J 3:16
by Drostste7
Summary: She loved them, cared for them, bled for them. She would do much more than that to keep them safe and alive, even if it meant she had to become the very thing she despised. OC/SI; AU
1. Chapter 1

Well, this is my first attempt at SI, OC, whatever for Naruto. Let's see how I do. If you see anything off kilter, feel free to PM me!

EDIT: I changed a couple of things because they were awkward.

* * *

She was being squished to death. The soft, surrounding walls of muscle contracted around her, pushing her left and right. She wanted to move, to jump, to _escape_—and escape she did. She slowly slid out of her pouch, her head first to be hit by the cold outside air. The rest of her body followed the next second. But despite being free from the pouch, _she couldn't fucking breathe_.

Her heart hammered in her chest. She tried to breathe, to inhale through her nose, but nothing happened. She opened her mouth instead, and quickly realized what a big mistake that was. Something was shoved into her mouth, down her throat, and she reflexively gagged, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. The pipe vanished for a second, and reappeared in her left and right nostrils. The process repeated until finally, the blockage in her throat was removed.

As soon as she felt all was clear, she gathered a ton of air into her lungs and cried. Everything was just so confusing and bewildering, and her throat and chest burned in pain.

The bright lights flaring above her didn't help as they made her eyes water. As she continued to cry, she finally began to hear the voices and sound of the people around her. Who were these people? Why was she here? Where was she? _And why did they sound so goddamn happy?_

The chuckles around her died down, and she felt herself in the arms of someone else. It was a very strange sensation. As a 23 year old, she wasn't someone easy to carry—and she certainly didn't remember being this small. She found herself wrapped warmly by a blanket. When she inhaled—without difficulty, this time—she found herself surrounded by a familiar scent of nature. Her cries immediately died down as she breathed in the smell of dew and pine.

A woman cried softly from nearby, and the girl found herself being given to the woman. The girl had never heard this woman's voice before, but found herself comforted by the smell of something spicy and citrus, as well as the soft cooes. The girl moved to get closer to the woman, who let out a sound of pleasant surprise.

The woman's chest rumbled as she said something in a language the girl did not understand. A man, the one with the smell of wood, replied back. Both sounded incredibly happy. A sarcastic old woman said something, and the two couple laughed. The girl automatically smiled, though she didn't know why; she just liked the sound of the two people's laughter.

A soft hand brushed against the girl's cheek, and the girl leaned into the touch. The woman let out a soft sigh, and said something that the girl could not understand. But for some reason, the girl got the feeling that the woman was saying loving things.

* * *

The girl was rarely properly conscious the next couple of days. This was very frustrating to her; she wanted to stay awake and observe where she was, and who the people around her were. But, alas, she seemed to only wake up when she was hungry, which seemed to be every two hours, or when she had soiled herself. The latter part was humiliating for her, no matter how often it occurred. But the woman who changed her diapers every day made the experience less embarrassing by lacking any intention to ridicule.

Frequently, the woman and man took turns holding and speaking to her. At first, the girl was surprised and somewhat scared by how aggressively they approached her. But eventually, she became incredibly amused by the two grown ups making strange faces and sounds. And she smiled, more for their sake than hers, to reassure them that their efforts were not wasted. She later finally concluded that the two people were very handsome and beautiful, their bright hair contrasting wonderfully.

In the next couple days, the girl began to realise that the two couple were her 'parents', and that she was supposedly a newborn. She did not understand how the hell that was possible, seeing as she could still remember herself being 23 years old. But after seeing her tiny body in the mirror, she couldn't deny it; she had been 'reincarnated.' The very thought of it scared her, and she frequently cried whenever she saw mirrors. And from then onwards, mirror were banned throughout the entire house.

But the girl was unable to come up with any rational explanations for this bizarre situation, so she just decided to accept her fate. After all, that must've been what brought her here, right? Fate.

The girl could not remember much of her past life, besides her having been 23 and living in California. She did not remember her parents or siblings. Hell, she couldn't even remember her name. Whenever she tried to think back, all she could 'see' were a blur of people moving around, and the seemingly busy atmosphere of the people around her. Actively trying to recall her 'past life' (as she decided to call it) always left her with a dull headache, so she did not indulge in the practice too often.

One thing she _did_ remember, however, was her love for anime, or Japanese cartoons. She came to the conclusion that her previous love for anime was the reason why she'd been born as a Japanese—so she could appreciate her passion in its native language.

Soon, the girl learned that her name in this world was Namikaze eRi. Her parents, Kushina and Minato—as she had gathered from her short span of consciousness—were very intent on calling her this every time they picked her up for a hug or kiss. It seemed they really wanted her to recognise the name. She humoured them often, and turned her head or looked towards whoever called for her by that name. Their responses to this were most amusing; the two's face split with a wide smile, and they both let out a sound of glee.

At some point, _Eri_ realised that the Japanese names seemed very, _very_ familiar to her, but she just couldn't remember how or why they seemed so familiar. Instead, she accepted this new fact, just as she did of the other strange things in her new world, and waited for her vocal cords to develop so she could properly talk to her parents one day.

And speaking of strange things, the girl noticed something cloudy in the air, in herself, and in her parents. The mists had colors unique to each person. The ones around her father and her mother—which were very concentrated and strong—were light blue and soft pink, respectively. The mists' lights flickered on and off, but seemed to get stronger and more vivid whenever either of them felt intense emotions. Interestingly, her mother's mist seemed incredibly concentrated and tinted red near her belly. Eri could not see the mist within herself, but she could feel it inside her veins and arteries, traveling from the bottom of her tiny toes to the top of her bulging head. It was easy to ignore, most of the time, because it seemed to be a part of her, just as her blood, her bones, and her muscle were.

The mist around her, however, seemed to be an entirely different story. For starters, the color itself was different. In the girl's room, there was not much of the mist, though the quantity seemed to be amplified whenever she stayed still. She observed this phenomenon, but could not find a way to inform her parents of her strange disorder. This strange ability did entertain her in the times her inability to communicate with others—or do anything physical, for that matter—frustrated her. Although her mother stayed at home most of the time, she did not stay with Eri 24/7 unless Eri needed food or new diapers, which Eri did not blame her for; Eri was a boring child who couldn't even talk and slept most of the time. But being stuck inside the body of a newborn with the mind of a conscious adult was hell in and of itself.

When she _was _awake and fully conscious, Eri was stuck staring at the ceiling, reciting lyrics of songs she could vaguely remember, going over old fairy tales to entertain herself, or drifting off to sleep, as per usual. When she got sore hips from lying down in one position for too long, she would cry, and her mother would come and flip her. If Eri was lucky, her mother stayed for an hour or two to read her a book before leaving the room, probably to get some beauty sleep.

Despite the somewhat strong connection Eri had with her mother and father, she never truly loved them until three months after she had been "born". Up until that day, Eri had only felt as though there was a bond between her and her parents because of chemical reactions that occurred in her brain. Otherwise, there was no reason for a 23 year old to love these "strangers".

On the dark, chilly, and cold night, Eri had, for reasons unbeknownst even to her, began to cry. She did not know why. She was not hungry, and she had not soiled herself. The only way she could define this feeling would be _homesickness_. She was homesick, but for what, even she herself didn't know.

Her mother quickly stumbled in, alert but still slightly sluggish from being asleep only a couple minutes ago, and dragged herself to Eri's bed. Kushina gently lifted up Eri to feed her, but Eri pushed her breasts away, and continued to cry. Kushina sighed, and laid Eri back down in her crib to check the her diapers, only to let out a groan of frustration when she saw it was still clean. Eri had not stopped crying, and she watched Kushina's face slowly turn from pale to bright red.

Kushina shouted something long and unintelligible, and in response, Eri stopped her wailing, and began to watch her mother with some morbid kind of curiosity. Kushina's face paled, and her eyes welled with tears. Immediately, Minato ran into the room, looking for the source of the shouting. He looked from Kushina to Eri, and walked over to Kushina and laid his hand on her shoulder gently. This only prompted Kushina to begin sobbing uncontrollably, and to hide her face behind her hands.

Eri reached out her palms for her mother, and when Kushina saw this, she only seemed to cry harder. Slowly, Kushina reached out and clasped Eri tightly in her chest, and gave her a tight squeeze. When Eri looked up and saw Kushina's expression, filled with such remorse, sadness, and love, Eri felt overwhelmed. Something in her chest squeeze tightly. She clasped onto her mother's hand, and squeezed it tightly, trying to send the message _I know. I love you too_. Then, she felt a soft hand brush her hair, and she looked at Minato, who was looking at her with love of the same quantity and quality. When Eri finally understood how much love these two people had for her—for _her_—her chest swelled, and her palms dampened with sweat.

That night, Kushina brought Eri to the larger room, and the three of them—Kushina, Eri, and Minato—fell asleep on one bed. As Eri stared at her staring mother's face and felt the heat of her father's chest, she firmly decided she loved these two people, and she forever would.

After that day, the monotonous days continued, with Minato visiting her less and less. Eri missed her father, but Kushina did a great job of keeping her entertained—most of the time.

* * *

One day, when Kushina finally had deemed Eri to be fit and healthy enough, she dressed Eri in warm clothes, and took her outside of the house for the first time.

When she left the small house, Eri was flabbergasted, to say the least. (There were so many people around her. How had she never seen them before? And good god, so many children, too!) Her gaze never left the faces of the children who passed by. But when any came near her, Eri, suddenly overwhelmed, shy, and nervous, hid her face in her mother's breasts. Kushina responded by laughing and clutching the girl tighter to her chest.

Once Eri was brave enough to look back out at the world again, she saw herself and her mother in front of a strange red building. It loomed before her, and Eri hiccuped, as she now tended to do when she was scared. Kushina laughed again, softly this time. Once they were inside, Kushina led them up a spiral of stairs, down a couple hallways, and around so many twists and turns Eri's head hurt. But when her mother and she stopped outside of a big, brown door, Eri calmed down.

Kushina opened the door by a tiny bit, and the two slid in. Eri was impressed by her mother's ability to quietly slip in unnoticed. It was almost like her mother was a ninja. When Eri shifted her focus to the men in front of her, she was quite surprised. Both her father and a strange man were in an intense discussion, frowns pasted on both their faces. Eri tightened her clutches around the collar of her mother's dress, finding the Minato in front of her strange. He no longer wore the light, joking face as he did when he played with her, and this scared Eri.

When Eri hiccuped, both men turned around in surprise. Eri stared as her father's looks transformed from firm and stiff back to his usual soft features. She was relieved by this change, and decided she didn't like her father's other face very much. She turned to stare at an old man who had tan, brown hair, with numerous wrinkles and spots on his face. He was not very tall, only reaching her father's shoulder in terms of height. But there was something strange about him… The brown mist radiating from his core drifted protectively around him. Eri's heart thudded; she knew this man from somewhere! She did! But from where, or how, or when, Eri could not say.

Minato strode over to Kushina, giving her a kiss on her forehead. Eri pouted, craving her father's attention, and stuck her arms out. Her father laughed lightly, and took Eri from Kushina, bouncing the child lightly on his hips. He walked Eri over to the old man, who was staring at the young girl with amusement and adoration.

"Eri-chan," Minato said. He turned and pointed at the old man, and said, "Hokage-sama."

The Hokage chuckled, and waved his hand, as if dismissing Minato's words. The Hokage said something, before pointing back at himself, and saying, "ojiji-chan."

Eri smiled, until what her father said finally hit her. Hokage-sama? _Hokage-sama_? Eri's mouth gaped a bit, and she looked from her father to the old man before the 23 year old mind finally grasped onto what this meant. Quickly, she looked outside, and saw on her left, very high in position, the Hokage Monument. Eri's left eye twitched, and she hiccuped again.

How the hell had she missed _the three large-ass faces pasted on a mountain?_ And more importantly—she turned to stare at the badge on her father's forehead, then at the symbol of 'fire', if her memory served her right, on the Hokage's large hat—the signs around her that basically screamed 'Konoha'?

Eri closed her eyes, and slowly reopened them to meet the eyes of an amused old man. But her attention was not on him or the spots on his face. Her attention was on the following truth: She was in the Narutoverse.

_…Well damn._

* * *

From that day onwards, Eri watched the people around her carefully, with reasons none other than because _she supposedly knew them. _As she laid in the crib in the living room, chewing on her prison bars, she watched her mother and father flirt incessantly with each other.

How had she missed it? How _had she missed this?_

Yes, in her defense, neither of her parents wore their shinobi outfits at home, and they certainly did not wear their headband—hitaesomethingorwhatever—at home. They never said the word 'Konoha', at least when she was around, and they had never taken her outside until that point.

But really? _Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato? They_ were her parents? Good god. Eri's left eye twitched again.

Once again, Eri simply accepted the truth, and tried to move on.

_Tried_ to.

With that realisation set, Eri finally understood how much of deep shit she was in. If her memory of this anime was correct—and when exactly had _that_ memory managed to resurface?—there would be various attacks on Konoha. And her parents would die in one of them. Just the thought of this made her heart thud violently and her stomach clench painfully. She couldn't lose them. She couldn't lose her parents _twice_. She had to prevent it from happening, and she needed a plan to make sure she could protect them. But how?

First of all, she actually needed to tell them about the dangers to come. This meant she was going to have to significantly increase the speed of her learning Japanese. She cringed at the thought; she had never been good at learning new languages.

Second, she needed to be a believable source. After all, who would in their right mind believe a baby? She needed to prove herself. And, from her memories, she recalled how respected prodigies were. Surely, it wouldn't be surprising if the child of _Kushina and Minato_ was capable of speaking and walking and doing everything faster, would it? This put a smile on her face. Of course it wouldn't. Her parents were strong, if not the strongest. No one could beat them.

Except Obito.

Immediately, the smile vanished from her face, and a frown was set in place. Right. There was that. The monster who managed to kill both her parents and attempted to take Naruto's life—_Naruto_. Eri's left eye twitched.

Naruto.

When was Naruto born?

That was it. That was the mark, the start of everything. She just had to watch out for Naruto's birth—if things went as the canon had. But how would she know when Naruto was born? What if she had been born instead of Naruto? She felt horrified and embarrassed once she got over the brief euphoria of the possibility of having Minato and Kushina to herself. It wasn't _right_. Naruto needed to be born. This was his story, and Eri was very, _very_ determined to keep it that way. (She also revelled at the idea of having a little minion to have follow her around everywhere)

"Eri-chan," her mother called, catching her attention. Kushina exchanged a look with Minato, who, with an equally nervous face, nodded. Eri's mother turned back to Eri, pointed to herself, and said, "Okaa-chan."

Kushina stared. And Eri stared back.

_Oh_. 'She wants me to say it back,' Eri realised. But could she? How old was her body, anyways? Was that even possible?

Kushina broke off her stare, and sighed. She turned to speak with Minato, frowning in the process. Eri tried to calculate the days and months. The day she fell in love with her parents, the day she met the Hokage, the days spent thinking… She was almost, what, seven months old? Eight? She frowned. Didn't babies usually start talking nonsense at twelve months old and—Eri attempted to groan, but only made a weird, moaning sound, catching her parents' attention. Eri paid them no mind, and instead tried to smack her face in contempt.

'I'm a ninja child,' she thought bitterly. 'Of course they'd expect me to start talking soon.' Then, Eri had a brilliant idea.

She turned to her parents, and looked at Kushina expectantly. As expected, the red-haired jinchuriki repeated the word, "Okaa-chan!"

Eri opened her mouth, and tried to copy the sound. What resulted was a soft, "O-aa-chan." Eri wanted to smack her face into the bars of her crib at how stupid she sounded, but restrained herself once she saw how Kushina's face gleamed.

Then, before Minato could say anything, Eri turned to him and quickly said, "to-chan."

The room was silent. Both Minato and Kushina attempted to veil how surprised they were, but Eri smugly enjoyed how shocked they were. She was going to be recognised as a prodigy one way or another, and if that meant shocking them into realising it, then shock them she would. Mission Prodigy had begun.

Minato and Kushina spoke to each other quickly, keeping their eye on Eri the entire time. She ignored them, and went back to chewing on the crib bars.

* * *

During the next couple of days, Minato and Kushina had bought around twenty books to read to her. When Eri pointed to a picture, Kushina told Eri the words, which Eri tried to engrave into her brain. And by the following month, Eri could say a couple words to communicate with her parents. Both seemed very happy with her progress, but Eri was not satisfied.

She needed to be able to converse with adults, but she certainly wasn't learning necessary words like 'international relations' or 'confederation' any time soon. Nevertheless, Eri understood the importance of basics, and got to memorising more and more words. By the time Eri was a nine and a half months old, she could make very, _very_ short sentences. She acknowledged the fact that she had made a lot of progress, seeing as three months ago she didn't even know the word for 'hungry.'

But one thing that Eri couldn't change, no matter how hard she really tried, was her abilities to walk or do anything physical. It seemed while her brain could process things at a much, much faster rate and remember words faster than the average baby, her body was still that of a nine month old. She couldn't even stand up and walk by herself. She could sit up for a while before the weight of her own head dragged her down. The entire thing was ridiculous and frustrated Eri to her no end.

Still, she needed to investigate on the world around her, whether she could walk or not. Thus, on a chilly November day, she turned to her mother, who was sharpening her kunai, and called out loudly, "Ka-chan."

Kushina, now used to the demands and calls of her (spoiled) daughter, turned and smiled at Eri. Eri's heart skipped a beat. Her mother was so beautiful. "Yes, Eri-chan?"

"To-chan," Eri exclaimed. "Go. To-chan."

Kushina's eyebrow quirked, but she smiled gently, "No, to-chan… team. Training. Team."

Eri nodded enthusiastically, "Nn. Go! Eri, kaa-chan, go to-chan! Go training team."

Kushina stared at her daughter, and the two held onto the staring match until Kushina gave up. If there was one thing that Eri was, it was stubborn. The girl, for some reason, would never take 'no' for an answer, having the resolve of a stubborn old man. "All right. In two minutes, ok?"

"Nn," Eri confirmed, before focusing her attention back to the picture book filled with hiragana and katakana. The first day she had discovered katakana in books, she had been very surprised. She knew katakana was the Japanese alphabet for foreign words, and found it strange that a _Japanese ninja world with no contact with foreigners _used this form of alphabet, but simply accepted it after a while.

True to her words, after two minutes, Kushina stood in front of Eri, a basket slung on one arm. Eri reached out for her mother, who effortlessly collected the child into her arms. Once the two left the house, they travelled at an insane speed from their home towards the training grounds.

Eri had long become accustomed to her parents' speeds. On the first trip she had at such a speed, Eri had ended up being incredibly dizzy and confused. She eventually puked and cried, and her parents rushed her to a hospital. Later, they both were scolded by the Hokage, who screamed something along the lines of _What the hell were you thinking_ and _You idiot buffoon couple_. At least, that's what Eri guessed the Sandaime had said. She hadn't been very good at Japanese back then.

Finally, within ten minutes of running (that Kushina did), the two arrived at the edge of a training center. Eri could faintly hear thuds from farther inwards of the center, where the mother-daughter duo were walking towards. As soon as Kushina got close enough for Eri to see two children throwing kunai at a wooden post, there was a clang behind her mother, and Eri was flung backwards into her mother's chest as Kushina leapt away. As always, Eri did what she was prone to do in confusing situations: she cried.

Immediately, Minato appeared before Kushina and cooed at Eri before picking her up and holding her in his arms. Eri stopped crying and smiled at her father. "To-chan!" She nuzzled her head against his neck, enjoying the familiar smell of pine.

Kushina cocked her eyebrows and crossed her arms, but smiled gently. "Eri _really_ wanted to see to-chan, ne? But Eri, come to kaa-chan. To-chan needs to train." Eri pouted, but willingly returned to her mother's grasp.

"Ah!" a loud voice shouted. "You scared her, Bakashi!"

Eri turned to look for the source of the voice, and was mildly surprised by what she found. A boy with spiky dark hair —_an Uchiha_—jumped up and down. He wore ski goggles around his eyes, which were connected to orange ear mufflers_. _He jabbed a finger at another, silver-haired boy, whose lower half of his face was covered by a mask. The latter boy seemed positively bored, but Eri did not miss the way he eyed her curiously.

"Stop, Obito-kun," a soft voice said. Eri turned to see a girl with short brown hair and purple streaks on each of her cheeks restraining the boy with the goggles. Slowly, Eri looked back at the silver-haired boy, the goggles, and the purple streaks.

"To-chan," Eri called for her father's attention. Minato looked down at her fondly. Eri slowly pointed at the children and asked, "Names?"

Minato chuckled, and shifted Eri to his other arm. "Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, Nohara rin. And team, this is my daughter, Namikaze Eri."

The three kids exchanged a strange look. Rin was the first one to approach Eri with a warm smile. "Hello," the eleven year old held out a finger. "Nice to meet you, Eri-chan."

Eri stared at the finger curiously, and slowly reached out to clasp onto it tightly. Eri smiled back, and said, "Hello." Rin's face brightened.

"Ooh, ooh!" Obito leapt over to Eri's side, and pushed his index finger out, mimicking Rin. "Hello Eri-chan! I'm Obito!"

Eri stared at Obito. _This_ was the man who would kill her parents? A deep and dark fury rose within the deepest pits of her stomach, but it disappeared just as quickly as it rose. Eri grasped Obito's finger and clenched it tightly, willing the hatred to come back just so she could hate him for the sake of hating a soon to be murderer—but nothing happened.

Eri sighed, and loosened her grip (which hadn't been very tight in the first place, to be honest). Who was she kidding? She was 23 years old. She knew it wasn't the kid's fault. It was Madara's manipulation, that sneaky I'm-never-going-to-die, cockroach bastard, who would change Obito. He didn't deserve her hatred at the current moment. She eyed him cautiously, watching how he seemed nervous and confused by her prolonged hold. She gave him a lop-sided smile, "Hi, Obito."

Obito smiled happily, and quickly whipped around to smirk at—wow, he was really small and different from her memory—Kakashi. Eri stared at the silver haired boy, who she knew would grow up to be one of the greatest ninjas in the world. The boy stared at her strangely, as if analysing her carefully, before he slowly walked over. He didn't offer a finger for a shake. "Hi."

Eri stared at Kakashi for a second before saying, "Hi Bakashi." She could hear her father stifle a laugh, whereas Obito let out a loud laugh and Rin let out a small smile. Kakashi's expression did not visibly change, though his eyes narrowed a bit. It probably wasn't appropriate for a 23 year old to aggravate an 11 year old just because he'd shown less adoration, but as Eri had learned, she could get away with a lot of things just because she was a toddler.

"Now, to-chan needs to train," Kushina chided Eri quietly, and shuffled over to a nice shady area. Kushina waved at Minato, and turned to Eri. "Sleep, baby," she cooed. And Eri, as she always was tempted by that soft voice, allowed herself to lie in Kushina's lap. But she didn't hesitate to give Obito one last careful look before she drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

So it's been quite a while since I've last updated my story. But things should be coming along a lot faster, now that I'm done with my college apps!

And also, I now have an absolutely _amazing_ beta, who goes by the name 'winteralley'. She's been an incredible help in looking for plot holes or any errors in my ideas, and is always quick to find grammar mistakes or awkward phrases. She also has her own story called _Beyond the Sea of Grass_, which is also a Naruto AU fanfiction. I highly recommend it to all of you.

Note: this fanfic (if Naruto having a sister didn't clue you in) is going to be heavily AU.

* * *

The next few weeks proved to be interesting, to say the least. Minato was home less and less frequently because he and his team were out for brief missions. The missions themselves never lasted more than a couple of days, and Eri figured it was because Obito and Rin were still genin. She was glad that her father wasn't gone for too long; while she did know he would survive the war, she didn't know in what way she had messed with the canon timeline just by existing. She could only believe in Minato's abilities as a shinobi, which, admittedly, wasn't that hard. But still, that was her father out there, and she wanted him safe, in one whole piece.

Being with her mother definitely had its perks, though. Her vastly exaggerated body language made it easier for Eri to understand her. Sure, being surrounded by only Japanese 24/7 improved her language skills, but there was a limit to which Eri could understand, and she had to rely on body language for complicated things. Plus, her mother had the softest voice when reading stories to her, and Eri liked that best.

Sometimes, when Minato went on solo missions, and Kushina wanted-needed-time to herself, team 7 would come over to babysit Eri. The visits always excited her, because Rin was always more than willing to read to her, and Obito was easy to understand. Kakashi, on the other hand… Eri could theoretically understand why he hated her so much. He saw Minato as a surrogate father figure, and Eri taking away almost all of Minato's attention infuriated him. But still, she didn't know what exactly Kakashi wanted. He surely didn't expect her father to ignore his own biological daughter in favor of another man's child? The answer to that question, it seemed, would always remain a mystery. Though, when Kakashi was being an ass, as he was in the current moment, Eri figured the answer to that question was a sad _yes_.

"It's not that impressive," the grey haired Hatake grumbled. He slouched further inwards, his crossed arms tense. Eri felt her eye twitch, and resisted the urge to strangle him with her puny arms.

"Cram it, Bakashi," Obito growled, his eyebrows bunched together tightly. When he turned to Eri, his face relaxed into a natural smile. "Don't listen to him, Eri-chan. Being able to read hiragana and katakana is amazing!" (Or so Eri presumed he'd said.) Recently, Eri noticed she had grown extremely fond of the optimistic child, whose voice seemed to get louder as time passed-not that she minded, of course. The toddler smiled back in response. Being with Obito was good practice for tolerating loud people, which she figured she'd need once Naruto was born.

"Yes, Eri-chan," Rin nodded. "Not all eleven-month-olds can read so comprehensively. You must be a genius." (Okay, so Eri might have made up the last two sentences, but Rin seemed like the kind of person who'd compliment a baby).

Kakashi's face scrunched up, beginning to resemble a bunched up wad of tissue. Though it was childish of her, Eri pointed at his face, smirked, and babbled, "Ninja rule!"

Obito and Rin smiled politely at her, as if they had completely understood the "nin-ah roo" mumble jumble (which Kushina and Minato always managed to decipher). Kakashi, on the other hand, understood her insult without other prompting. His face immediately ironed out into a poker face, reverting to what Shinobi Rule 250-or-the-other considered to be the most appropriate expression for shinobi to maintain at all times. But Eri could tell by the slightly reddish tint blooming across Kakashi's cheeks that he was certainly and definitely embarrassed by being called out by a toddler. Eri smiled triumphantly, which did not go unnoticed by Kakashi. He almost broke his infamous mask of indifference (again, Eri might add) to sneer at her, until Obito stood up abruptly.

"It's great to read and all, but I think we should all go out for some fresh air," Obito suggested, stretching his arms and legs. "Look at how beautiful it is outside! It's one of the best days Konoha has had in ages, and it'd be a waste to stay indoors. C'mon, Rin-chan, Eri-chan, let's go outside."

Rin seemed to agree with Obito, and reached to pick Eri up. Eri glanced through the windows of the living room, where the four of them had been for the past few hours. While she agreed with Obito on the importance of exercising and gaining muscle, she was still wary about putting her studies aside. She still considered 'become fluent in Japanese' and 'be recognized as a prodigy' to be her first and foremost goals, after all. But Rin didn't seem to notice Eri's internal turmoil as she scooped Eri into her arms, and slowly walked out the door, held open by Obito.

"Come on, Kakashi-kun," Rin called.

Before Kakashi could say anything rude to Eri's angel (aka Rin), Eri added, "Bakashi. Me. Mission. From tou-chan." In other words, _Kakashi, you do realize your mission is to protect (and play) with me, assigned by your esteemed sensei and my loving father, right?_

Somehow, Kakashi seemed to understand her hidden threat as he trudged along gloomily. Eri wondered if it was a genius thing, to be able to decode baby babble.

Rin and Obito managed to distract Eri from her worry about not finishing _The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja_, and ran around slowly in civilian speed (for Eri's sake, of course) to chase the giggling toddler around the garden. A couple of months ago, Eri would've been horrified to have to act like the baby she physically was, but over time, she'd found she didn't really mind being babied by everyone around her. In fact, she adored the attention she received (though she'd never admit that aloud to anyone). It was nice to have someone she could rely on; she blamed this dependence on her psychology resulting from her inevitably defenseless body. While the three children ran around the front lawn, Kakashi took on the role of patrolling around the neighborhood streets, despite knowing they were completely safe after having been riddled with Kushina and Minato's protective seals. Eri knew it was all just because he didn't want to _degrade _himself by playing such childish games.

Almost an hour after they'd been playing a variation of ninja, chase, and hide-and-seek, Eri paused when she noticed an unfamiliar, cool green aura approaching the Namikaze home (Eri decided to call the mists 'aura' because why the hell not). When Obito and Rin saw the toddler still and stare intently at the incoming person, they too paused and squinted their eyes, trying to distinguish who was walking towards them. A second later, Kakashi shunshin-ed over (and boy, had it taken a long time for Eri to get used to that ninja technique without screaming in surprise).

"He doesn't have unfavorable intentions," he quietly said. "Otherwise, Kushina's seals would have fried him on the spot."

Eri winced at Kakashi's unrefined way of defining her mother's seals, but she silently agreed with him. Her mother wasn't exactly famous for being merciful to enemies on or off the battlefield, after all. If anything, Uzumaki Kushina _enjoyed_ watching her enemies (and even her husband sometimes, though him more out of jest) get physically or psychologically tortured.

When the man stopped before the group of four kids, Eri looked him up and down. He was familiar, in a strange way. He had long, silky, dark hair that reached far below his collarbone, highlighting his pale skin. He was tall, but slim. All of that combined with the sharp, goldish yellow eyes above his high cheekbones presented a cold kind of elegant beauty, one that made Eri stare in awe but also warned her of the man's danger. She was certain she'd be able to tell who it was if she'd have more time to ponder about it-  
"Orochimaru-sama," Kakashi mumbled as he bowed slightly. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

-aaaand of course it had to be Hatake who interrupted her train of thought. With the newfound knowledge, Eri regarded the snake summoner in a different light, scrutinizing everything about him from his body language to his clothes. But Eri stopped herself before getting too paranoid. She'd long since realized that just because someone was _capable_ of becoming a mass murdering, crazy sonovabitch didn't mean they necessarily would. Obito was the prime example of that: Eri was going to prevent him from becoming Madara's play thing, and she was pretty confident she was already having a positive influence on him. Orochimaru could simply be added to the collection.

But the man before her didn't seem to be interested in any of the four children. Instead, he looked around impatiently, his gaze seemingly distant but oddly sharp. He was clearly searching for something that wasn't there.

"Where is Uzumaki?" he asked no one in particular.

"Here," Eri called out automatically, raising her hand. Orochimaru turned to her slowly, his dark eyebrows cocked.

"And who are you?" he all but demanded.

"Namikaze Eri," Eri replied confidently before the hesitant Rin could stop her. Then, just so she was sure Orochimaru understood, she added, "Uzumaki Kushina. My kaa-chan."

Eri's theory that geniuses could understand the barest of phrases was proven when Orochimaru snorted. "I can see the resemblance," he muttered, and leaned in close to examine Eri. That was also when Eri felt Rin's arms stiffen around her, and noticed Obito take a step forward, as though to put more space between Orochimaru and Rin. Even Kakashi seemed wary about how close the beautiful man was to Eri. Eri wanted to give all of them disapproving looks for the almost scared and worried way they were treating Orochimaru (especially Obito, because he really didn't have the right to be suspicious of people-who-have-not-yet-sinned), but Orochimaru himself soon backed away.

"Irrelevant," he declared, waving his hand dismissively. Eri's left eye twitched at his dismissive behavior. This man wasn't making a very good first impression (though she wasn't sure if this even counted as a first impression, seeing as she had watched the anime). "So none of you know where Kushina is?"

"I believe you'd be able to find her with Mikoto-san," Kakashi finally answered.

"Hn," Orochimaru grunted in annoyance (and wow, _that_ really must be a genius thing), before turning away. "Then I have no business here. When Kushina returns, be sure to inform her that I dropped by."

With that, the arrogant man walked away. The four children stood in silence, waiting until the Sannin disappeared from their gaze, before Rin suggested that they go back indoors, as the sun was starting to set. Eri protested, finding it unfair that a creepy man had to disrupt their fun time outdoors, until a suspiciously well-timed yawn managed to crawl up her throat and escape. Kakashi rolled his eyes, before returning inside the home first. This time, Obito carried Eri as the remaining children entered the Namikaze household once more.

"Hungry," Eri complained as Obito released her onto the same living room floor from before.

"A shinobi can last a week without real proper nutrition," Kakashi muttered under his breath. Eri's eye twitched in annoyance.

Obito elbowed Kakashi, and turned to Rin. "How about you and Bakashi prepare dinner while I keep Eri-sama happy?"

Rin laughed. "I think that's a great idea. How does… Autumn udon sound?"

"Awesome!" Obito grinned, giving Rin a double thumbs-up.

"Alright. Come on, Kakashi-kun. I hope you know how to use the stove," Rin commented slyly as she headed towards the kitchen.

"Of course I know how to use the-let's just get going." Kakashi walked away, followed by Rin.

Obito turned to Eri. "How about we finish the last of the _Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja_, ne?"

Eri nodded eagerly, and climbed into Obito's lap as he opened up to the most recent page. The two of them barely managed to hide their snickers when they heard Rin's slow, "...how about you just chop up the mushrooms? I'll… do everything else."

Perhaps it was because the children were shinobi that it didn't take much time to make dinner; Obito finished the book at around the same time. He carried Eri to her baby seat (which she absolutely loathed), in which he firmly secured her, before taking a seat next to her, with Rin and Kakashi directly across from him.

"Itadakimasu!" Obito chirped as he clapped his hands together, his chopsticks hanging loosely between his two palms.

Rin echoed his yell less enthusiastically, while Kakashi simply began to eat. Eri stared miserably at her bowl. While she did certainly receive some form of Autumn udon, everything was cut up into little ugly pieces. It was supposed to make it easier for her to chew, which she _was_ thankful for, seeing as she didn't want to choke to death, but she missed the texture of soft udon noodles. Before she managed to drool into her bowl, Eri sighed and began to eat, using her incredibly limiting spoon to scoop up the pathetic particles into her mouth.

By the time the four kids were done with their dinner, Kushina returned home. Eri had noticed her before she'd entered the house, of course: the familiar soft pink aura was hard to miss. Eri noticed Kushina's bright smile, and her now much more cheerful voice, and began to feel a little bad about how her mother had gotten so tired from just watching over her. She decided Kushina needed more vacation time from her as often as possible.

When Kakashi informed the redhead that Orochimaru had dropped by, Kushina laughed pleasantly. The four children gave her questioning looks, none of which she answered as she waved her hand, dismissing the questions before they could even be brought up.

"Thank you all for taking care of Eri," Kushina said instead, scooping Eri into her arms. Eri settled her face into the comfortable crook of her mother's neck, and clutched onto Kushina's beautiful red hair. Just smelling Kushina made Eri sleepy and elated. "...and it's getting late, so you should all stay over."

"Ah," Rin bit her lower lip, before apologizing. "My family is celebrating something tonight, and would really like me home. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, Kushina-san."

Everyone in the room knew that was a polite way of saying "my family would like to celebrate the fact that I am still alive, despite actively participating in the war, and would like to have me around as much as possible while I am still breathing", but didn't comment further. Eri didn't know why Kushina didn't just make the kid go home to her family and let Eri be babysat by someone else. (Her hypothesis was that Kushina was just really strict about who Eri could interact with)

Obito eagerly accepted the offer, which Eri actually felt bad about. She knew he wasn't well-liked by the Uchihas just because he hadn't awoken his Sharingan yet (and she thought that was a completely ridiculous reason to hate someone). But Obito soon hesitated, and slowly added, "but I don't have permission from the clan."

Kushina simply replied, "That's already taken care of. You don't have to worry about it."

Obito's shoulders dropped with what looked like relief, and happily informed the Uzumaki that then he would indeed be sleeping over.

"And you, Kakashi-kun?" Kushina cooed. Eri noticed Kushina really had a fondness for making fun of geniuses.

Kakashi turned away, but before he could say anything, Kushina added, "Minato-kun's coming home tomorrow early in the morning. Straight here, to our home, I mean." As expected, Kakashi then immediately accepted Kushina's offer with a swift nod, which could almost pass as 'enthusiastic' for the Hatake.

The remaining shinobi plus one child soon waved goodbye to Rin, who left for her own home. Kushina then ordered the " mutts" to go and wash off the dirt and mud, and took Eri off into the bathroom to wash her off.

When Kushina rinsed the shampoo out, she quietly asked, "Do you know what day it is in three days?"

Eri squinted, before replying, "Friday?"

Kushina laughed, before answering, "No, silly. It's your birthday."

"Oh."

There was silence.

"That's why tou-chan's coming home early."

"Okay."

"Nn. Make sure you… you thank him, okay? He worked really hard so he could come back in time for your birthday."

"Nn."

One shower later, Eri was finally squeaky clean. When she saw that Obito was also ready for sleep, she demanded, "Obito! Me. Sleep. Bed."

Obito gave her the same polite look that she was getting used to, until Kakashi rolled his eyes and deciphered for him, "she wants you to tuck her in bed."

"Oh," Obito said after a pause. "I knew that. Okay, Eri-chan. Let's go!"

With that, Obito carried the toddler in his arms to her room, where he placed her in her crib. She smiled contently when he pulled out _the Tales from the Bamboo Grove_ on her command. And by the time Obito finished one folktale, Eri was long asleep, without a single worry about the future.

* * *

The next morning, Eri was disappointed to find neither her father nor Obito home (she wasn't really that disappointed about Kakashi's absence). But she was relieved when Kushina informed her that Minato and Team 7 were at the training compound, catching up with the current war status and sparring (which Eri recently discovered was merely torture in practical disguise).

Eri hurriedly finished her breakfast, which earned her a scolding from her concerned mother. But Eri was too excited by the prospect of seeing her father again that she didn't really feel bad about making her mother worry about her. As soon as she was done with her breakfast, she called out for her mother and demanded that she be changed and be carried all the way to the training compound.

Kushina rolled her eyes at Eri's command, and rebuked her lightly about talking to elders with respect, but changed Eri anyways. (And Kushina made fun of Minato for spoiling Eri, heh). Once Kushina finished packing Team 7's lunches, she lifted Eri into her arms and walked slowly towards the clusters of forests to the east.

As soon as Eri arrived at the training compound, she wiggled in her mother's grip until Kushina allowed Eri to stand on her own. With her (newly developed) walking skills, Eri toddled over to the place where the loudest grunts could be heard, before falling on her knees after the first four steps. She shot Kushina a "I can do it by myself" glare before she shakily pushed herself back up with the palms of her hands. Eri wobbled uncertainly back and forth before she finally found her balance, and again began to waddle to her father.

What she walked into was almost exactly the same as always, except Minato was being more strict about the team's performance than usual. In fact, the atmosphere in the compound was so tense that Eri stayed unusually still and quiet, warily watching her beautiful blonde father stand before his team, one hand on his waist and the other running through his hair.

"Obito, you have to be more aware of your surroundings before you use your katon jutsus," Minato reprimanded. "Rin, you're too passive. Watch both your teammates' and your opponents' movements, and join in. Communicate as much as you can." When Kakashi snorted not-so-quietly, Minato turned to Kakashi and added, "Kakashi, you aren't going to be able to beat someone like me by yourself. You need to work with the team."

The three children blushed unanimously, before shouting a simultaneous "Hai!" Minato gave no sign of acknowledgement, merely ordering them back to their new hiding places. Eri was sure she almost heard her father mutter, "Not good enough" before disappearing and leaving puffs of dust behind. Eri blinked. This kind of reaction was definitely not like her father: he was always patient and understanding, critical but never harsh. This Minato seemed… exactly the opposite of all of that.

Eri squealed as she felt herself being lifted in the air, and turned to see her mother staring grimly at where her father had been.

"What?" Eri asked, reaching up to pat Kushina's face.

Kushina looked back at Eri, as though in a daze, before shunshinning the two of them nearly a foot away from their original spot. Eri frowned; she'd actually worked quite hard to reach that place. But her mother only smiled tiredly, and patted Eri on the head, settling both of them down against a nearby tree trunk. Eri stared at her mother impatiently.

"Tou-san… against many soldiers," Kushina said (Eri only heard the words she understood).

Eri did not break her gaze from her mother. She really didn't understand the significance of that. Her father was participating in a Shinobi _war_. It was no surprise that he'd be out there fighting other shinobi.

"They were very young," Kushina mumbled. There was silence, until she added, "Most of them were Obito-chan and Rin-chan's age."

Eri still stared at Kushina until she realized her father had killed dozens of children his students' age, and immediately felt like shit. So this was why Kushina wanted Eri to thank Minato; he'd probably killed at least two kids every minute to be able to return from his mission in just four days. He wouldn't have faced just poorly trained children, after all. There tended to be jounin around when there were children soldiers (which Eri figured was to lessen the guilt that came with sending kids to get killed), whom Minato would've had to killed as well. And even with his Hiraishin, there was a limit to his fighting efficiency.

Eri wondered what it was like, to kill children for the sake of your village, only to return and face your team of same-aged kids. In response to her own question, she felt a twinge of pity. Her father was strong, but even the strongest men could crack under pressure. She knew that best, after all-Wait. She knew that best? How did she-

She felt a sharp pang of pain, and clutched her head.

"Eri-chan?" Eri heard her mother call her, but the voice seemed distant and cloudy. Eri clutched her eyes shut, and shuddered. The pain passed within the next few seconds, but Eri kept her eyes closed just in case. Again, Kushina prodded, "Eri, are you okay?"

Eri winced, but turned to her kaa-chan and gave her a smile. Kushina sighed in relief, and gently said, "You scared me, dattebane."

"Sorry," Eri said sheepishly. "Head hurt."

Kushina frowned and rested her chin between her right index finger and thumb. "Ehh… Maybe you're dehydrated. That's not good. Here, drink some water." Kushina reached into her pack and pulled out a water bottle, from which Eri eagerly sucked water. The headache did subside a little, but not completely. Still, Kushina looked far too worried, so Eri simply said, "Good now." Then, she added in sympathy, "Poor tou-chan."

Kushina looked at Eri in poorly concealed surprise. Eri ignored the look, which she noticed her parents expressed more and more frequently. She didn't know what was surprising them so often: if it was her ability to talk, then they had to get over that as quickly as possible. Her goal was to achieve something far beyond just mere talking, after all.

"Kaa-chan, book," Eri instead insisted, pointing at Kushina's pack. Her red-head mother always brought along stories (or poorly veiled propaganda, as Eri liked to call them) when they visited the training compound. Kushina's lips were tight and firm in a straight line, but the woman said nothing as she reached in and pulled out the _Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja_.

"No," Eri complained. "Me. Obito. Finish!"

Kushina blinked, before rolling her eyes with a smile and exchanging the book for _The Story of the Senju_. Eri made a funny face at the book, because just the title _itself_ was promising a "great tale of the brave and undefeatable Senju brothers!" But Kushina took no notice as she pulled Eri closer, and laid the book before the two of them.

"The Senju are actually very close with the Uzumaki," Kushina informed Eri. "In fact, your great-great aunt was a Senju."

"Eehh," Eri wailed, voicing her perpetual disinterest.

The redhaired woman conveniently ignored Eri's complaint and began, "The Senju brothers were originally four young men of the Senju clan…"

Two painful hours later, Eri turned to the familiar blue aura approaching them, rushing into his arms as fast as she could. She snuggled into the crook of his neck, ignoring the sweat and dirt, and wrapped her arms around him as much as she could.

"Tou-chan," she groaned. "Book. Bad."

Minato chuckled before wrapping his arms around Eri and lifting her up. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Eri could almost _feel_ Kushina roll her eyes at Eri's dramatic actions.

Then Eri remembered what Kushina had said, and added, "Thank you. Come home. Fast!"

She pulled back, and inspected her father's face for any scratches or scars. "Safe?" Eri demanded.

There was a significant pause before Minato nodded, and confirmed, "Safe." Eri nodded, and turned towards the approaching auras of white, green, and red. Kakashi, Rin, and Obito stood sheepishly.

"Come," Eri demanded. "Lunch."

Rin laughed softly, and was the first to approach the father-daughter duo. Obito followed obediently. But Kakashi lingered on the side, and from the looks of it, Eri could tell he had been reprimanded again by Minato. And from the faintly ashamed glint in his eyes (Eri was only half-bullshitting-or so she claimed to herself), Eri could tell he genuinely felt bad about not doing well.

"Bakashi. Feed me," Eri commanded, hoping to break his tension.

And break his traut lines she did. In fact, it would be fair to say she tore them down. His mask of indifference broke and he frowned, and opened his mouth to say something before Minato interrupted him.

"C'mon, Kakashi-kun," Minato smiled, and Eri watched in fascination as Kakashi seemed to melt with affection. She still found it strange that she was the only one who noticed how much Kakashi adored Minato.

"Hai, sensei," Kakashi replied in supposed indifference before sitting down (not so covertly, Eri might add) right between Obito and Minato. Eri shared a look with Kushina, but allowed herself to be settled between Minato's legs and be fed by her father. Kakashi occasionally shot her the typical jealous glare, but thankfully kept his thoughts to himself (probably because he didn't want to show his antagonizing side to Minato).

By the time the group were finished with their lunch, the sun had long been lowered from its position high in the sky. Kushina decided Eri should head back inside, which Eri vehemently disagreed with. But Minato reminded Eri that the February weather was incredibly cold, and would only get worse as time passed (fully knowing Eri couldn't stand the cold), and convinced her to return. Pouting, Eri waved goodbye at her father and his team as she was carried away by her mother back home.

Once the two arrived at the Namikaze compound, Eri noticed a snake laced with the same green aura from the day before in their front yard. Kushina seemed to notice it too, and paused right before it. Eri marvelled at the sleek, black snake. But when Eri reached out to pet the snake, Kushina gently slapped Eri's hand with a soft, "No."

Before Eri could cry-not from anger, but from shock-Kushina tutted, and stated, "Orochimaru-san's snakes don't like being touched by strangers."

With that explanation in mind, Eri tried to hold back her tears as best as she could, though some managed to slip past her. Those that did slide down her face, Eri rubbed at mercilessly. She was not weak. She would not let her baby-hormones make her irrational. And because Eri was so busy scolding herself, she did not notice the silent black mamba study her.

"Does Orochimaru-san have a message for me?" Kushina asked. The snake turned to her, before shedding its skin in a few seconds. Eri watched in wonder. Didn't snakes usually take weeks to shed?

Kushina noticed Eri's confused look, and informed her, "She's a summon, so she can use chakra to accelerate her molting speed."

Under the black mamba's old molted skin was a scroll, which Kushina tucked into her sleeves. "Thank you very much," Kushina bowed to the snake, which hissed in response before disappearing through the grass.

"What?" Eri questioned as Kushina carried her back inside the home. "Hnn?"

"Orochimaru-san and I are working on a project," Kushina said calmly as she gently laid Eri on the couch. "He's studying a special form of fuuinjutsu, and wanted my help."

Eri's eyes widened. The (in)famous Sannin was requesting help from _her_ mother? Her chest swelled with pride. Kushina laughed heartily and poked her daughter's chest with her index finger.

"That's right, Eri's kaa-chan is very smart," Kushina cooed. "And beautiful. And loved. And-"

Eri blew raspberries, and laughed when Kushina began to kiss all around her face and fingers. "Nooo," Eri cried helplessly when Kushina's kisses turned into tickles. "Kaa-chan, noo."

Kushina grinned, before turning stoic and asking, "Does Namikaze Eri give in to Uzumaki Kushina?"

Eri turned stoic as well, and responded, "Namikazes never."

"Well, then," Kushina's face broke into a sadistic beam. "I guess I'll just keep going."

Eri squealed again, and considered smacking her mother in the face before deciding hitting a jinchuuriki in the face was probably not a good idea. "Okay," Eri giggled. "Okay. Give up."

Kushina slyly grinned, as though satisfied with conquering a toddler, and got up. "All right, then. Victory to the Uzumaki." She glanced outside the window, and clucked her tongue. "It's time for your nap," she announced, before picking up the squirming Eri and walking to Eri's room.

"Ehh," Eri whined. "Noo."

Kushina ignored Eri's complaints as she laid her down in the crib, and began to rock the crib gently. Eri attempted to stand up, but the rocking made her fall on her butt, and, eventually, her back. Before Eri could complain again, Kushina began to sing a little lullaby, which Eri had previously learnt was from Uzushio.

Kushina sang,

"Hush baby, hush child,

The wind blows

The sea cries

And Uzushio is your home

Hush baby, hush child,

Your mother is at the markets

Your father is at sea

And Uzushio is your home

Hush baby, hush child,

The mountains protect

what the sea cannot

And Uzushio is your home"

Before Eri realized she really was drifting asleep (damn babies and their tendency to fall asleep whenever they were full and warm!), she noticed the sadness in her mother's eyes as she reached for something in her sleeves. It was then that Eri remembered her mother had lost her entire village, her home, her family… And black rushed in.

* * *

Kushina's song was inspired by the Edo Lullaby.

As always, if you find anything off kilter, please PM me! Hope you enjoy the chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the next chapter! I bet it was out a lot faster than you guys thought it would be (though you lot thinking I update slowly is actually my fault).

As always, a huge thank you to my beta winteralley. I'd be so lost without her.

* * *

Eri's birthday came a lot faster than she'd imagined it to have, what with her father being rarely home. Minato was always out with his team, training them much harder than they typically were used to. Eri was disappointed she was temporarily banned from the training grounds ("It's going to be really intense, so the only obstacles there should be ones that can be destroyed," her father had said) because she really missed her father. So when her parents started to set up the house for her birthday party, Eri was elated that she'd have her father to herself for the whole day.

"Look, Eri-chan," Minato chirped, his left hand held over his right with their palms touching. "Which one is this again?"

Eri's eyebrows knitted together, before she yelled, "Monkey!"

"Perfect!" Minato exclaimed, before pulling her into a hug and rubbing their cheeks together. "You're so smart, Eri-chan. What am I going to do with you?"

"Next, next!" Eri urged.

"Okay. What's this?" Minato intertwined his fingers, with his left thumb placed outside.

"Snake!" Eri answered immediately.

Minato chuckled and patted her head. "Yep. And now-"

Eri abruptly twisted away from Minato to stare at the front door as soon as she saw a hint of foreign aura approaching the front door, not noticing the strange way Minato stared at her turned back. "Eeh? Tou-san. Guest!"

Minato stood up. "I guess we already have someone here."

Before Minato or Kushina (who was in the kitchen cooking something incredibly delicious) could open the door, it opened by itself, slamming into the wall.

"Minato!" a rough voice called out. "Your great sensei is here!"

Eri stared in awe as a tall man with obnoxiously bright white hair entered the house. He wore a familiar grey head guard, and an armor mesh underneath his green kimono shirt and red haori. But most noticeable were the two red streaks running down his eyes, one under each eye. The infamous pervert jumped in to hug Minato and pat his back, while prattling on about his most recent (and probably classified, the old coot) mission.

"Jiraiya!" she blurted out.

The man turned to her in what seemed to be amusement, and peered over Minato's shoulder once he released the blond man from his grips. "Ehh? So that's the pipsqueak!" He turned to Minato with a shit-eating grin. Eri glanced at Minato, because-"So you bragged about me to her already, eh? Of course, if you have a master such as I"-no one had _actually_ told her about Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-san!" Kushina yelled, having exited the kitchen. "What have I told you about opening our house doors carefully!"

Minato eyed Eri inconspicuously. "Yes, sensei, please don't break our doors."

Eri started to sweat slowly as she tried to come up with various excuses for her foreknowledge. Well… She'd read the _Utterly Gutsy Ninja…_ And Obito-Obito had read it to her! She could argue that Obito had let it slip while reading her the book. As long as the idiot didn't contradict her (and she would make sure he wouldn't), she would be fine. Minato had nothing to be suspicious about!

Except he wouldn't stop giving her that weird look. Eri avoided Minato's eyes as much as possible, focusing on the wart on Jiraiya's face.

Eri whined, reaching her arms out, "Me! Me!"

Jiraiya gave her a surprised look, before grinning. "The little brat's spoiled, isn't she?"

Eri gave Jiraiya the stink eye, before she opened her arms with more emphasis and demanded, "Carry!"

For a second, Jiraiya's expression turned blank before he slowly walked over to her and picked her up. Eri reached up to grab onto Jiraiya's white hair to tug on it. (It was softer than it had looked, and certainly a lot longer). Eri was so absorbed in contemplating whether she should stick the strands of hair in her mouth or not that she almost missed Jiraiya's calm, "How old is she again?"

Before her parents could answer in her stead, Eri answered, "Now one!"

Jiraiya smiled. "Ehh, is that so?"

"Yes, she's already turned one," Kushina answered (she seemed almost rushed, Eri noted).

"Hmm… Eri-chan, do you love your kaa-chan and tou-chan?" Jiraiya asked.

"I'm sure she does, sensei," Minato interjected. "How about we sit down for a cup of coffee?"

"But I think Eri-chan wants to answer the question," Jiraiya turned to Eri. "Ne?"

Eri paused at the palpable tension in the room, and especially at her parents' strangely fluctuating auras. "Uhh…" she bit her lip. "Both. Eri like both."

If auras could collapse in on themselves, that was exactly what her parents' did.

"Ahh, so Eri-chan likes both of her parents," Jiraiya smiled. "I see."

"Sensei-"

"So I'm guessing the reason Eri's introduction into society is late because she's a toddler who can understand questions and answer them in chopped up, but still logical, phrases." Jiraiya frowned. "Why were you two hiding this?"

Eri looked nervously at her father and then at her father. Both of their faces had turned blank and shut. She recognized that expression from when they really didn't want to talk about something (which had always been associated with 'killing little children in battles' until now). Eri squirmed in Jiraiya's arms, and reached out for Minato, who took her effortlessly and quickly. Minato even took a step backwards, and passed Eri onto Kushina before stepping in front of both of them, as though to block Eri from Jiraiya's line of view. And the Sannin definitely did _not_ miss that.

"Minato," Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. "Is there something going on that I need to know about?"

"No," Kushina bit out, before Minato held out a hand to silence both of them.

"Eri is… a little different from the other children," Minato began.

"Like the Uchiha?" Jiraiya asked bluntly.

Minato paused, before nodding and saying, "Yes, a little like Itachi-kun."

"Well that's great!" Jiraiya beamed. But Eri still stayed stiff as she noticed her parents' auras coil and tense. The toad sage added, "That is a good thing, right Minato? You haven't… done anything to her?"

"Of course not," Minato snapped. Eri jumped in surprise at her father's burst of anger. She had… she'd never seen him so... upset. His aura jostled together, as though it were boiling. "I would never-not to a child, much less my own!"

Jiraiya held his two hands up, as though to calm Minato. "Of course you wouldn't. I'm sure of it. I just thought I should ask." He glanced at Eri, then shifted his weight to his other leg. "Minato… is this because of the work-load Eri will be put through if she's acknowledged as a genius?" (Eri only understood the word 'genius', and her ears perked up).

"It's not that," Kushina said slowly. "She's…" She exchanged a look with Minato before continuing, "She's _really_ different. We… We talked about her advanced comprehension, and we decided to observe her for a longer time before we informed other people."

Jiraiya quirked his eyebrow. "If you were trying to hide her intelligence, you weren't doing a very good job of it. I figured it out in the first two minutes of meeting her, and I'm sure others will figure it out just as quickly." Jiraiya ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, I get it. You're new parents, and you're worried about the adversities your child will face as a ninja. But you're both shinobi, and you're _never_ going to let her get in a fight without properly training her. And knowing your personalities, one of you is probably always going to be there, at least until she becomes a chuunin. She's going to be safe, even if she does get a bit of a head start before everyone else her age."

"There were children in the battle three days ago," Minato bit out. "Six year olds. Of course, there were also dozens of jounin there as well, but-sensei, they will send her out to war much earlier if she starts training earlier than her peers." Kushina's grip on Eri tightened.

Jiraiya was silent, until he said, "She's talented, Minato. You can see it, I can see it-hell, even the idiot Uzumaki can see it"-Kushina glared at Jiraiya-"I kid, Kushina. But you understand, don't you? She will be a necessary addition to our forces. And-_listen_-she won't die. You two will make sure of that, won't you?"

"Of course I'll protect her, 'ttebane," Kushina growled. "No one's going to even _touch_ Eri."

"Yes, see?" Jiraiya nodded. "But she's not going to be safe just because of your protection. As a child of you two, I bet she could be a fuuinjutsu _master_ at six years old-not that she'd be sent out that early," Jiraiya added.

"You were six years old when you became a genin," Minato said flatly. "And Kakashi became chuunin at six."

"That was a long time ago," Jiraiya snapped back. "I was never sent to the front lines until I was actually capable of fighting chuunin off. And Kakashi still hasn't actually been sent into active battle." Jiraiya sighed. "The point is, we're not going to send Eri away into battle as she is. She's going to be trained by the best shinobi we have, and she's going to head into battle after she enters the academy, learns the actual techniques and skills, gets her own team-god_damn_ it, Minato, Kushina. You two are smart. You should know by now that she would _never_ be sent into battle alone without training! If anything, she'd be given advanced training, _more_ training, before being sent out into the battlefield!"

There was silence.

"We had a bad feeling," Kushina finally said.

"You had a bad feeling," Jiraiya repeated, giving Kushina a look that made her blush. "Why am I not surprised."

The two couple were quiet as Jiraiya sighed for the fifteenth time. And after this entire exchange, Eri, who had just _barely_ understood what had been said, began to cry. Sure, she was being acknowledged as a genius now, but if she'd known how much trouble it'd have brought her parents, she wouldn't have made it so obvious to others.

"Oh, no, no, no," Jiraiya took several steps back. "Uhh… Don't cry! Don't-Minato, do something!"

With the ease of a pro, Kushina tucked Eri into her bosom, and patted her back with gentle hands. Minato reached over and ran his hand through Eri's short hair. "It's OK, Eri-chan," Minato murmured.

"Sorry," Eri cried.

"It wasn't your fault," Kushina whispered into her ear.

"Er… I'll just… I will go and make that coffee. Yes, that's what I'll do." With that, Jiraiya side crab-walked into the kitchen, keeping his eyes on the sobbing Eri.

After a few minutes, Eri's full blown sobs turned into faint hiccups. The trio remained silent, Kushina still patting Eri's back. Jiraiya popped his head out from the kitchen, nervously glancing at the small child. "The, uh, the coffee's ready."

"Okay," Eri wiped her face on Minato's sleeve, who-to his credit-winced only slightly. "Now. Kitchen," Eri demanded, her little body still shaking slightly. Kushina chuckled, before heading to the kitchen with Eri tucked in her arms.

Jiraiya had already taken a seat at the kitchen dining table. As Kushina sat down on a chair, Eri observed the Sannin. It was… It was actually kind of funny that Jiraiya of the Sannin would be so afraid of a crying child. The thought made her chuckle, which eventually evolved into a burst of laughter.

Minato and Eri exchanged a look, and Eri pointed at Jiraiya and said through her giggles, "Scared. Eri."

Minato and Kushina also began to laugh at Jiraiya's expense, who sat there in confusion.

"She, um," Minato laughed. "She finds it funny that you're afraid of her."

Jiraiya slowly smiled, and chuckled heartily. Eventually, the four stopped laughing, leaving an awkward silence hanging amongst them.

"I… apologize," Jiraiya murmured as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I shouldn't have been so aggressive about it. It's just she's _your child_-Umph. I'll try to tone down the excitement."

"No, sensei," Minato hung his head in shame. "I was also unreasonable. You're right, I suppose. It's just… I guess it's because Eri _is_ our first child that we were so worried."

"I still stand by my point," Kushina said loudly, but with a smile.

"Me too!" Eri chirped, prompting the three adults to chuckle again.

"I think it'd be best if we informed Sarutobi-sensei," Jiraiya thought aloud. "A child like Eri only appears once in a generation, or so they say. I'm sure they can start teaching her things that'll be vital to her development and survival-oh, ur, uhm, I mean-"

"It's fine," Kushina interrupted. "It _should _be considered survival, what with the war still waging."

The three adults eventually morphed their conversation around the current situation of the war, and the increasing Iwa shinobi that were entering the war. They didn't know where the extra forces were coming from, and finding out just exactly that was Jiraiya's most recent mission. Eri began to drift in and out of sleep, as the conversation started to become too complicated for her to understand.

"Oh kami, look at the time," Kushina blurted as she glanced out the window. "Minato-here, take Eri-the _soup!_"

Eri was thrust into Minato's arms and out of her dream (which strangely involved her blowing up Konoha), and Kushina quickly went on to make dinner for the party. Jiraiya agreed with Minato's suggestion to continue decorating the house, so the two shinobi shunshinned (the lazy asses) around the house with sparkling chains made of some kind of soft material, and put up pictures of Eri as a baby (why would they do that?! There was even one of her drooling in her sleep!) on the wall. When Eri whined about the photos, Minato donned a poker face and said something along the lines of, "We have to share your cuteness with the world."

"Jiji?" Eri asked.

"Hokage-sama is busy today," Minato said. "But we'll get to meet him soon. Don't worry."

It was around 5 PM when the next guests all started to thread in at once. Her parents tried to introduce everyone to her, but Eri couldn't connect the names to the faces-Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, something something what?

Seeing as her parents were still apparently freaking out about her "high intelligence", Eri tried her hardest to dumb down her talk as much as possible. That didn't seem to help, because everyone still found her baby babble quite amazing. Meanwhile, Jiraiya took notice of her subtle change and seemed even more impressed. (Eri never realized until that day how hard it was to act stupid).

All in all, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Even Eri was elated (mostly because her parents themselves were happy), although she didn't know anyone in that party. But things took a turn for the unexpected when a clear woman's voice called, "Kushina-chan!"

Eri's mother, who had been holding Eri quite tightly, spun around in the direction of the voice, leaving the redheaded child dizzy for a few seconds. Eri's eyes spun slightly, and she couldn't quite make out who the woman before her was. But she was definitely beautiful. The woman had a rounder, smaller face with big, dark eyes that were split evenly by a pointy, short nose. The woman's stature was short, but in a graceful way.

"Mikoto-chan!" Kushina exclaimed in response. "You came!"

Mikoto… Mikoto? The only Mikoto she knew from the Narutoverse was…

"Nn," Mikoto smiled, and turned to Eri. "Oh, she's pretty big for her age. I'm glad she's only a year younger than Itachi-kun!"

…Itachi and Sasuke's mother.

"Yes, I think the two of them will get along quite well," Kushina commented.

Mikoto glanced at Kushina, and the two shared a look that Eri couldn't decipher, before Mikoto turned back to Eri. "Eri-chan, you must be pretty happy. It's your birthday, after all!"

Eri snuck a look at Kushina. Did her mother want her to hide her intelligence in front of this woman too? But Kushina gave no response, so Eri just smiled and made some strange bubble noises, to which Mikoto laughed.

"What about Fugaku-kun?" Kushina asked enthusiastically.

"He caught a cold, and couldn't come," Mikoto said. "It's a shame. He was looking forward to the party."

"Cut the political bull-uh, the political nonsense. We both know he was looking for an excuse to not be here," Kushina said, rolling her eyes. "You'd think he would've forgiven me for that underwear prank by now, 'ttebane. He's such a wussy."

The thought of her mother pranking the great Uchiha head was such an unfathomable idea that Eri burst out laughing in joy. She really wished she had been there to see the old man's reaction.

"Eri-chan is definitely happy today," Mikoto cooed, before taking a step back. "Well, I can't stay for long. Fugaku actually spread his cold to Itachi-kun, and neither are in any state to care for one another." Mikoto sighed. "But it was great to finally see Eri-chan."

"I'm sure Eri was glad to meet you too," Kushina spoke on Eri's behalf (Eri would never admit that she'd initially been kind-of-sort-of-actually afraid of the mass murderer's mother).

"Yes, well, if you hadn't been so overprotective about who she could meet and who she couldn't, I would've met her a long time ago," Mikoto said dryly. Eri saw her mother blush sheepishly. "So I guess you'll now make it up to me by bringing her over for a playdate with Itachi-kun some time this week, ne?"

Before Eri could protest-which Kushina noticed at lightening speed-Kushina chirped, "Of course!"

With that, Mikoto smiled and said her goodbyes, adding on that she'd left the gift in the living room, before disappearing into the crowd.

Kushina said under her breath, "Just for today, let's act like you're not _Namikaze_ _Eri_, ne?"

Eri gave her a flat, annoyed look, but kept her mouth shut. She definitely didn't want to repeat the scene from before with Jiraiya, so she allowed herself to be carried around the room again, greeting Clan Heads (who were _definitely _interested in using her as a political pawn), and her parents' other shinobi friends (who just wanted to see what the production of the Red Hot Blooded Habanero and Konoha's Yellow Flash would be like). There were surprisingly a lot of people at the party, considering there was a war waging on beyond the walls of Konoha (she later found out that many shinobi had used Eri's birthday party as an excuse to drink their brains out). Ultimately, Eri was not amused by or interested in any of the people she was introduced to. At least, until she heard Jiraiya yell out,

"Tsunade! Orochimaru!"

Eri was actually excited to see all of the Sannin in the same place at the same time. Apparently, most of the people had the same idea, because they all turned to stare at the slug, snake, and frog summoners. Jiraiya spoke excitedly with his arms waving around, to whom Tsunade and Orochimaru gave unimpressed looks. Once the pervert made eye contact with Eri, he waved her and Kushina over.

"Uzumaki," Orochimaru first acknowledged (and was he… was he _smiling_?).

"Orochimaru-san," Kushina bowed her head slightly. "Tsunade-san. This is Eri, Minato's and my daughter."

By then, nearly everyone in the room was staring. With that in mind, Eri stayed still and refrained from making any strange movement.

"Heh," Tsunade smiled, and leaned forward. Eri tried her hardest to not allow her eyes to stray down… down towards that-wow, they were really big-no, no. Eri gave Tsunade a sly smile. "She's pretty cute." (And now the slug princess was added onto her Favorites list)

"An almost carbon copy of Namikaze's eyes," Orochimaru analyzed. "Though that mop of hers is definitely from Uzumaki."

"She's definitely going to be as smart as her parents," Jiraiya declared. But his body language had apparently hinted at something, because Tsunade's stare turned sharp, and she began to analyze her in a different light. Eri shifted uncomfortably in her mother's arms. Was she the only one who had observed the change? Surely not. But one look at the nearby Hyuuga Head, and she could tell that she indeed had been the only one to notice.

"Well, I guess I'll have to visit more often, cousin Kushina," Tsunade straightened her back, leaving her eyes on Eri's face. "She sounds like an interesting kid."

"Of course," Kushina said. "She's my child, after all."

Tsunade burst into a laugh, going so far as to wipe a tear from her eye. "Ahh, Uzumaki pride never changes." The slug princess glanced around the room, and asked, "So where's the booze?"

Kushina rolled her eyes before using her thumb to point at the other end of the room. Tsunade rubbed her palms together before stalking off to the table with alcohol, and Jiraiya trailed after Tsunade, promising Kushina he'll "make sure she doesn't drink herself to her death-or to Minato's bankruptcy." Which left Kushina and Eri with… Orochimaru.

"Have you inspected what I'd last sent you?" Orochimaru asked, apparently getting straight to his point.

"Ahh, yes. There are several things that I think should be changed before the seal is actually implemented, but the general theory should work," Kushina answered, her index finger on her chin in a pondering pose. "In fact-"

Eri whined, and opened her arms to Orochimaru, "Meeeee. Carrryyy." (What could she say? She liked being held by handsome, dangerous men).

Orochimaru gave her a look of extreme distaste, until he realized the significance of her demand. "So this is what the idiot meant by 'smart'. I'd thought her intelligence from our prior meeting had been a coincidence. This level of comprehension certainly is surprising for a child her age," Orochimaru said in a pitch low enough for just Kushina and Eri to hear.

Kushina's smile tightened. "I would prefer it if you kept it to yourself, Orochimaru-san."

Eri blushed once she realized she'd made a mistake, but still waved her arm around in the air. "Orocchin!"

There was silence between Kushina and Orochimaru, with Kushina staring at her daughter in disbelief.

"Orocchin," Eri repeated. (She even said it slowly for him so he could understand it).

Orochimaru went through the indecency of having his jaw hang in the air for a few seconds before remembering where he was and exclaiming, "I-you will _not_ call me by such a-"

Kushina laughed, and pushed Eri into Orochimaru's outreached arms; because of his advanced reflexes, Orochimaru ended up holding onto Eri before she was dropped onto the floor. That was how he held her: far from his own body, with his hands tucked under Eri's armpits. Eri frowned, and reached her arms out again.

"She wants you to hug her closer," Kushina noted.

"I know that," Orochimaru snapped, before turning to Eri. "No. Bad." Eri somehow managed to grab a handful of Orochimaru's hair, which she tugged at violently while maintaining eye contact with the snake summoner. "Ow-Hold on, wait-"

In an effort to pull Eri's pudgy fingers away from his hair, Orochimaru had brought Eri closer to him, leading to his inevitable downfall: Eri latched her arms around Orochimaru's neck, and snuggled in her favorite area between the shoulder and the neck. Orochimaru stiffened, but Eri merely released the patch in her chubby palms to run her hands through his hair.

"That's all she'll want to do for the next hour," Kushina warned. "She likes beautiful hair."

"Her and her mother both," Orochimaru grumbled. Eri did not respond, tugging on the un_believ_ably soft hair. (It was actually kind of unfair how elegant the men's hair in this Narutoverse were).

In the end, Orochimaru awkwardly held onto Eri as Kushina left to get some dinner. But he seemed quite content, almost happy, about the situation; it was definitely not because he had the opportunity to hold onto Eri, but because of something else. (Eri had the slightest suspicion that he was happy about the amount of trust being placed on him by Kushina, but she couldn't see why he'd be happy about something as small as that).

By the time it was 10 PM, almost everyone had left, stumbling out the front door and giving their best wishes and she's-so-cute's and presents. The only ones remaining were Jiraiya, an extremely drunk Tsunade, a grumpy Orochimaru, Eri (who had returned to her father's arms), Eri's parents, and Minato's team, whom Eri had somehow missed the entire party.

"Sorry we're saying goodbye as we say hello, Eri-chan," Obito mumbled. "Uh, we were just a little busy."

Eri said nothing, and simply watched. Obito fumbled with the object behind his back until Kakashi rolled his eyes and stole it, despite the Uchiha's protests.

"Here," Kakashi muttered as he pressed the present into Kushina's arms. "It's a present from all of us."

"We couldn't get much," Rin apologized (and wasn't she the sweetest angel?). "We were training until just now, so we couldn't get anything additional." Eri shot her father a horrified look, and was almost disgusted by the innocent mask her father donned (she was only _almost_ disgusted because she would never be able to get upset at her either of her parents). Did he really make his students train while he enjoyed himself at her birthday party?

"It's OK," Obito added quickly, having noticed the Namikazes' brief, nonverbal exchange. "The training was for our own good. We're heading out to a place near the front lines in two days, so we had to do a lot more preparation than before."

Obito did nothing to reassure Eri, who became even more afraid for the team (front lines? Front _lines_?!). Kakashi rolled his eyes, and smacked Obito in the back of the head. "You made her even more worried now, baka."

"Hey, what was that for?!"

"Well, you clearly failed in making her feel better."

"I did _not-_-"

"Boys, stop it," Rin scolded. She turned to Eri with a bright smile. "We're going to head home now because it's late. But I really hope-_we_ really hope-you had a good time today, ne? We love you, Eri-chan."

Eri smiled in response, and gargled, "Eri love you!"

Rin smiled, and pushed the two still-arguing boys out of the house. But before Eri could even think about the possibility of now having free time, she heard an ominous,

"So. Genius Namikaze child, huh? We have a lot of talking to do, brat."

* * *

If you see anything wrong, please PM me!


	4. Chapter 4

I hope you enjoy the chapter. (- insert shameless plug about how reviews always make the chapters flow faster -)

As always, a huge shout out to my amazing beta, _winteralley_, without whom I'd never be able to finish a chapter.

* * *

Eri calculated her chances of running out of the Namikaze household unscathed and managing to hide from the five shinobi before her: the result was a sad, but very realistic, 0 percent. But apparently, it wasn't Eri Tsunade was annoyed with; it was Minato and Kushina, who both slowly turned to the Sannin with a pasted smile.

"I'm not quite sure what there is to talk about," Minato answered calmly.

"Cut the bullshit," Tsunade's words slurred together. "We already heard about it from Jiraiya."

Minato turned to give Jiraiya a disapproving look. "I see."

"We're not hiding anything," Kushina interjected. "Eri's is just a lot smarter than what Minato and I thought children should normally be. We wanted to observe her before letting it be known by others that she's smart."

"Smart doesn't quite cover it," Orochimaru snorted. "She's almost like a miniature adult with the way she can comprehend what we're saying. But as soon as we advance our vocabulary into something beyond that which children can normally comprehend, she seems to become lost and relies on our body language to understand the conversation." At that, the shinobi all turned to face Eri and caught her momentarily confused face (Eri was seriously taking guesses at the latter half of what Orochimaru had said).

Jiraiya scratched the back of his neck. "I just thought it'd be good for Tsunade-hime to take a look at Eri-chan, especially with-" He paused, and carefully added, "Especially with how there are… many children going missing and being recovered after having been… _altered_. And with Iwa sending genetically modified children into battle."

"We did not _modify_," Minato spat the last word out, " Eri's genes. She was born this way." Eri stared at her father, who had transformed into the man she had last seen in the Hokage's office during her first visit to the Sandaime. He took no notice of her fear, and continued, "Kushina has already sent out a hawk to Hokage-sama, and we've received word that we'll meet with him and Shikaku and Inoichi tomorrow to have Eri go through the same interview process as Itachi-kun."

"Yeah, yeah, I get'cha," Tsunade waved her hand, and touched Eri's forehead gently, her hands gleaming green. The slug summoner switched into a professional mode, as her eyes sharpened. "I know you two would never do anything like that. But the orphans who _did_ get altered had their genes tampered with through the chakra-enhanced water they drank and the air they breathed in. No Konoha citizen has been found with altered genes yet, but I don't want to take any chances." With that, Tsunade pulled back, her hands returning to their normal skin color. "Especially not when the potential victim is my little cousin's child. She's fine; breathing stats, blood count-everything's normal."

Kushina let out a breath of relief and held Eri tighter. "Have we found the perpetrator?"

For a second, Eri glanced at Orochimaru (he'd once experimented on little kids, hadn't he?). But she was surprised to see he genuinely looked equally as concerned as Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Jiraiya shook his head. "I'm still working on it, but it's hard to look for the bastard behind the orphans' cases _and _look into the case with the Iwa soldiers."

"By the characteristics of the infections, I'd say it's likely Kiragakure is responsible," Tsunade said, talking gulps from her flask. "I'm working on it."

"Then you should probably stop drinking so much," Orochimaru said sharply. Tsunade simply waved her hand, and said, "Stop worrying so much. I'll be fine. Anyhow, I have to wake up early tomorrow, so I'm going to be heading back home. Eri-chan, your present's in the corner behind Jiraiya's."

Before Tsunade could leave through the front door, Minato called out, "Shizune-chan is returning from the field tomorrow."

Tsunade paused, but left without any further words. Jiraiya rolled his eyes, and trailed after Tsunade, adding that he'd also be at the meeting with the Sandaime, before closing the door behind him. Again, Orochimaru was the only one left with the Namikaze family.

"Well, then," he coughed. "I'll be off-"

"Present?" Eri interrupted, holding her hand out. (Truth be told, she just wanted to see his reaction.)

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Modest, aren't you? Just like your mother there-" Kushina laughed "-but of _course_, it'd be rude of me to not give the birthday child a present. What do you want?"

Eri gave him a look of shock and horror. "No present?"

"I just don't have it right this moment," the snake summoner snapped. "I was busy, unlike your parents here."

"Okay," Eri drawled. "Then… Promise. You. Me. Friends." She added, "_Forever_."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "You certainly have the subtly of a rock. All right. We can be 'friends'."

"Write," Eri demanded. (Oh, she knew the significance of having promises in written documents).

"I don't think that's how friendships bloom, Eri-chan," Minato chuckled. "Though, perhaps Orochimaru-san could promise to play with you some time?"

Actually, Orochimaru-san looked like he most certainly did _not_ want to _play_ some time, so Eri simply grinned and shouted, "Yeah!" (It looked like Kushina had passed down her sadistic tendency to make fun of geniuses.)

Orochimaru grumbled, "I'll drop by when I can. But for now, I have to go out and actually work to protect the citizens of Konoha, instead of organizing birthday parties for little toddlers." With that Orochimaru left, leaving a confused Eri. That last part certainly seemed like a jab at her parents, but since Orochimaru seemed to be on amicable relations with her mother, she was guessing he had something against her father. But why?

"Today was so exciting, ne?" Kushina asked, passing Eri over to Minato so that she could stretch her limbs. "And there's so much to clean up."

"I'll clean up the mess," Minato said. "You can put Eri to bed. She has to sleep early today, since the meeting with Hokage-sama is in the morning."

At that, Eri made a face, but allowed herself to be washed up and tucked into bed by her mother. Once Minato finished cleaning up the mess (and shinobi could be some of the dirtiest, messiest assholes out there), he joined Kushina in singing lullabies to Eri. As usual, it did not take long for her to fall asleep.

* * *

True to his word, the Hokage met the family right before the day turned to noon. But the once familiar and welcoming Administrative center seemed oddly malicious, now that the family's visit was serving a completely different purpose from the usual. Eri tried to calm her nerves, and attempted to return Jiraiya's smile when the trio entered the Hokage's office.

"Eri-chan, it's been awhile, ne?" Hiruzen smiled.

Eri glanced anxiously at the other two in the office, before she turned back to the Hokage and gave him a small nod. One man had a spiny beard and two parallel lines across his face, while the other had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail. She recognized the two of them as Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi from the party.

The Hokage waved the group to the couches at the side of the office, and Minato allowed Eri to sit on his lap (she dreaded the day when she'd be too big to fit on his lap). Kushina sat to his right, with the Hokage sitting by himself on the left; across from the family, Inoichi and Shikaku sat. Jiraiya opted to stand, leaning against a nearby wall, his arms crossed.

"Hello, Eri-chan," the Nara was the first to speak. "My name is Nara Shikaku, and this is Yamanaka Inoichi. We are your parents' friends."

Eri glanced at her father, who was trying to hide his smile. When the two made eye contact, Minato said softly, "We've saved each others' lives more than once. We trust each other." At this, Eri relaxed from her nervous stance, and properly shifted herself into a more comfortable position against her father's chest.

"We're just here to play games with you, Eri-chan," Inoichi said cheerfully. "No need to be scared."

Eri must've made a weird face, because Shikaku laughed and asked, "What's bothering you?"

Eri peeked at her mother, who was nodding at her encouragingly. "No play. You ask me. Smart!"

(Now) not so surprisingly, both Shikaku and Inoichi seemed to understand her. "Yes, we are here to see if you are a genius or not," Shikaku admitted. "But we _are_ going to do it through playing games."

Eri nodded. "Okay."

Inoichi pulled out several boxes. From the first, he retrieved a set of cards, which he split into two and separated across the table. He flipped several over, and demonstrated the act of putting the red pictures with the other red drawings and the yellow with the yellow.

"Can you do this?" Inoichi asked carefully.

Eri gave him a look of "You are so retarded, how are you a shinobi" before quickly stacking the cards in stacks of their respective colors. She was frustrated by her slow physical mobility, but Shikaku and Inoichi's surprised faces made it up to her. She laughed, before saying condescendingly, "Easy!"

Inoichi smiled, almost uncertainly, before he pulled the second deck closer to her. Then, he asked, "Can you put these cards in order?"

Eri repeated the same look from before as she placed the cards in order from 1 to 10. When Inoichi asked her to change the order, she did so just as easily as she had the first time.

"Okay," Inoichi said, then paused. "Then let's-"

Shikaku wordlessly reached down and pulled up a shogi board, and pushed a cup full of pieces to Eri.

"Oi, oi," Jiraiya spluttered. "You can't-that's a _shogi board_!"

"Yes, we all have eyes and can see what's before us," Shikaku drawled. He looked at Eri in the eye. "I just had a feeling that Eri-chan was getting bored with all these… _childish_ games."

Eri blinked, then smiled in response. (Honestly, she was relieved that _someone_ finally understood her). "Play!"

Jiraiya turned to Minato and Kushina. "Have you two ever even taught her how to play?"

Minato and Kushina wordlessly shook their heads, watching Eri then Shikaku. Even Inoichi seemed surprised, though he looked like he didn't intend on stopping Shikaku.

Eri irritably said, "Me. Learn" at the same time Shikaku mumbled, "She can learn."

The two shared a look and smiled (Shikaku was definitely someone Eri was starting to like more and more). Shikaku then went on to explain the rules to Eri in the simplest terms as possible-and defined words like _general_ if Eri didn't know what they meant-and it was not long until the two started the game. Truth be told, as Eri continued to play the game, she was overwhelmed by how familiar the game was to her. She was used to calculating the chances of this or that happening, of trying to figure out her opponent's movements and intentions.

But ultimately, the game ended in her loss (and in a quite devastatingly, embarrassing way, she might add; she shouldn't have moved her general piece into Shikaku's area so early on in the game).

"Hn," Shikaku narrowed his eyes. "Interesting." He looked up from the board and at Eri. "Are you sure no one has taught you this before?"

Eri nodded. "Learn today."

There was silence in the room.

"Yes, I can… I can see why Orochimaru-sama would think she's on Itachi-kun's level. Itachi-kun _understood_ what was being taught, and manipulated the new knowledge in the same way Eri had done," Inoichi concluded. "She is definitely a once-in-a-generation genius."

At this, Eri had to refrain from clapping her hands and cheering happily (hey, she'd just achieved one of her goals, all right?), because her parents were still quiet.

"She'll be an unbelievable addition to our forces," Shikaku mumbled, parroting Jiraiya, and he looked up. "If we start training her early, she'll be on Kakashi's level by the time she's a pre-teen."

The Inoichi Clan head turned to the Hokage. "But, as I had also said for Itachi, I do not recommend sending her out on the battlefield before she has turned twelve. Geniuses like her tend to think differently, and need to become accommodated to the… reality of war. We should wait until she's reached a fully bloomed age before even letting her get _near_ the frontlines."

The Hokage slowly nodded. "I see. And of course, she would never be sent out until she was ready. Even Hatake-kun is being forced to wait until his teammates have caught up to his level of skill."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kushina mumbled, pulling Eri into her lap. "I was… I was just so worried-"

"It is fine, Kushina," Sarutobi said with a tired smile. "I, too, can understand the fear of sending my own children off to fight. But as the Niidaime had said, our children are our future. They are not disposable soldiers, but people who will grow up to be the pillars of our village. They must be treasured."

With those words, any doubt that her parents had had seemed to disappear into thin air. Jiraiya also seemed to notice this, as his stance relaxed into a more casual one with his crossed arms dropping down to his side.

"I would also recommend that Eri-chan meet a lot of children," Inoichi added. "Typically, intellectually advanced children choose to isolate themselves because of the differences in the level of comprehension between themselves and normal children, but they have to be sociable. We heavily focus on teamwork during children's critical period, at least until they reach the necessary level at which they can protect themselves. Perhaps Eri-chan can have a play date or something of the like with Itachi-kun?"

"Yes, she already had a playdate settled with Itachi-kun," Kushina confirmed.

"With Orocchin too!" Eri added.

"Orocchin?" the Hokage inquired.

"That-" Jiraiya burst out laughing. "Would be Orochimaru."

The Hokage joined Jiraiya in his heartfelt laughter, while Shikaku and Inoichi tried their hardest not to laugh at the prospect of the famous Sannin-sama being degraded to having a pet name of "Orocchin".

"But I don't Eri's intelligence should be broadcasted," Shikaku said, turning the conversation serious once more. "I imagine the other nations have already caught wind about Konoha's Yellow Flash and the infamous Uzumaki having a child; letting them know just how smart Eri is will paint a larger target on her than before."

"Yes," the Hokage nodded. "I agree. Try to refrain from letting people know her true intelligence as much as possible. And as for her training, I think it'd be best to allow Eri to grow up with her fellow children, seeing as she is physically the same as her peers. But for intellectual challenges, perhaps Shikaku could occasionally teach her a few things."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," everyone said in unison.

Honestly, this was the first time Eri had seen so many shinobi interact with the Hokage at once, and she could see how much power the old man held. Having her father bow to him… That surely meant something. With that dismissal, everyone besides the Hokage left the office, each going their respective ways after saying their farewells.

Today, Eri was perched on Minato's shoulders as they headed down the familiar path to Team 7's training area. (Though the trio dropped by an ice cream store at Eri's insistence before continuing their journey). On their way to the training ground, Eri noticed a small boy (from a well-established clan, it seemed) surrounded by what looked like bodyguards, and noticed her own lack of protectors.

Curious, Eri asked, "Tou-chan, why me no hide?"

Minato chuckled as he brought Eri down from his shoulders to clutch her across his chest. He leaned towards Kushina to take the bite of ice cream from the spoon she was extending towards him. "Well…" He licked his lips. "You're always with people who can protect you, just as that child was surrounded by people who he can be protected by."

Eri blinked, and wondered if her father realized he had humbly bragged about his own skills while simultaneously insinuating all the men combined were equal to him. Then she shrugged. It was true, after all.

"Senseiiiii," a familiar loud voice whined. "You're finally here."

At first glance, Eri could not discern what Team 7 had been up to. There were boxes tossed carelessly to one side of the field, and toys of all kind in clear boxes. Upon closer inspection, she realized the toys had been organized into different boxes according to their usage.

"Tou-chan…?" She questioned, looking up at her father only to be horrified; he was wearing the same blank, innocent look from the night before.

"Can we train now?" Obito whined. "We've even put the boxes in alphabetical order. Kakashi's been kicking up a fuss this entire time because you weren't here, and-"

"I did _not_!" Kakashi interrupted, his ears turning bright red.

Eri continued to search her father's face for the answer, because surely he hadn't ordered his team to _organize her birthday presents_? But her attempt to prove her father's innocence was meaningless when he gave his team a bright, angelic smile, and said, "Yes! I'd be very grateful if you could stack all those boxes and put them to the side. Then we can get started on planning for tomorrow."

Eri smacked her face with the palm of her hand. She had never known her father could be so… so _cruel_. No wonder Kakashi hated her so much! Obito was enamored with anything cute (Eri conveniently ignored the fact that she'd complimented herself), and Rin was too nice to say anything about having to do petty work for her sensei's child. Kakashi, on the other hand… while he did love doing whatever Minato ordered (he'd probably bark like the dog he was if Minato asked), he probably didn't like the fact that he had to do everything for his sensei's _daughter_.

Kushina, who now held Eri, gave her an understanding, sympathetic smile. "I also found out he was like this when he started chasing off all the other guys. Not that anyone would ever believe me, of course."

And Eri could see why no one could believe Kushina. Minato's team definitely adored him too much to even whisper about him being manipulative, and everyone else in Konoha probably thought Minato was a saint, just as she had thought him to be.

Before Eri could begin to contemplate her meaning of life (her father was a manipulative bastard, oh kami), Kushina flapped open a picnic cloth, on which she settled both Eri and herself. She covered both of them in a warm blanket to watch the three little children get beaten up, with both of them snickering every time Kakashi was scolded. Once the two got hungry, they ate their warm lunch, ignoring the jealous looks Obito shot them every now and then (Eri felt a little bad about the fact that the rest of the team were going hungry, but she had a feeling Kushina was enjoying the taunt too much to say anything).

Finally, (once Minato decided the team was battered enough), the four shinobi trudged on over to where Kushina and Eri were. But before Obito could begin to complain about the aches in his body and Kakashi could ridicule him for complaining, Minato turned serious, and faced the children, his back to his wife and daughter.

"All right. Tomorrow, we are going to be very near the front lines. We are going to have to fight enemies. And while you have had contact with enemy shinobi before, it is going to be very different this time. It won't be your typical C-or even B-mission. _We are at war. _There will be chaos. And you will feel fear. But we will be smart. We will be careful. And most importantly, we will protect ourselves and each other-_as a team_."

Simultaneously, the one chuunin and two genin straightened their backs, and shouted, "Hai!"

Eri watched the entire scene with some form of admiration and sick amusement. Her father had quickly changed the mood of the conversation from serious to grave, then to passionate. And just as easily as he had controlled the atmosphere, he instilled confidence and pride into his students. It was quite amazing and interesting (especially how conveniently he ignored the fact that they were eleven-year-old kids).

"Since tomorrow's mission will take longer than before, we'll end the training session now. We'll meet at the front gates at seven a.m. Don't be late—" Everyone, including Eri, turned to stare at Obito, who turned bright red "—and don't sleep too late tonight."

"Urr, what should we pack?" Obito asked sheepishly.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "How typical of you to not know."

Minato stood between them, sighing. "And to think I'd only just finished my speech on teamwork. Obito, pack two days worth of warm, light clothes, since we can wash one set at night while wearing the other, your usual weapons, and enough rations for a month. Everyone except Kakashi, dismissed."

The two children seemed to disappear, leaving only a waft of wind in their place. Kakashi shifted his weight from one foot to the other repeatedly, the red bloom across his cheeks the only proof of his embarrassment.

"Bakashi," Eri said softly. "Stop fight. Need protect-you and Obito. Not safe out."

"I don't need Obito to protect me, and if Obito needs me to protect him, then he's not a good enough shinobi," Kakashi snapped. "And of course it's dangerous out there; we're at war."

Minato and Kushina both blinked. "Did you understand all of that?" he asked.

"Yes," Kakashi grumbled. "Isn't that why you always made me join Rin and the idiot in babysitting the brat?"

"No, I asked you three to work together to instill teamwork skills. But-Kakashi, since when have you known Eri could understand complex ideas?" Minato demanded. "Have you told anyone else?"

"I'd hardly call this conversation complex, sensei," Kakashi murmured. "And no, I haven't told anyone."

"Then let's keep it that way," Minato proposed, laying a hand on Kakashi's shoulders. "Though I do agree with Eri. Please don't fight with Obito. You're both good kids, and you two need to protect each other." When Kakashi said nothing and silence ensued, Minato simply sighed. "Dismissed." With that, Kakashi disappeared in the same manner as the former two.

Kushina stood up, and laid a hand on Minato's shoulder. The two of them shared a look, a passionate glance, before turning to pick Eri up, collect the stacked boxes, and return to their home.

That night, Eri could not sleep, though she'd put up an act for her mother. Would her father be safe? Would Rin and Obito return together with the entire team? Kakashi would protect both of them… Wouldn't he?

For the first time in both lives, Eri began to pray.

_Please. _

To whom, Eri had no idea.

_Please._

She just wanted everyone to be safe-_and home_.

* * *

The next morning, after breakfast, Eri hung onto her father's neck with as much strength as possible. Kushina sighed for the third time that morning, while Minato rubbed Eri's back.

"Eri-chan," he whispered into her ear. "Tou-chan has to leave now, or he's going to be later than Obito."

"No," Eri grumbled, hiding her face against her father's neck. "Don't go."

Gently, Minato tried to pry Eri's fingers from his neck. But as soon as Eri started to cry, Minato pulled her back in close and patted her on the back.

"What's wrong, Eri-chan?" Kushina asked. "You were fine before."

Eri managed to get through her sobs, "Bad feeling."

"I'll be back soon," Minato promised. "Really!"

Eri did not stop her wailing, but allowed herself to be taken into Kushina's arms. She was scared. Something big was going to happen, and she had no idea when it would be. But she just… she just didn't know how to get it across in words. For the first time since her waking in the Narutoverse, Eri cursed her limited vocabulary not for some obscure "order the adults around" goal, but because she couldn't express her unbound love for her parents.

"Okay, ah, um," Minato took a piece of paper out from his pack, and bit his thumb. Quickly, he pressed his thumb on the paper, and there was a brief light that glared from beneath his thumb. He then picked the seal up and handed it to Eri, who just stared at the piece of paper as she sniffled.

"This will tell you that I'm safe," Minato said. "If something happens to me, you'll be the first to know."

"...Okay." Eri took the piece of paper, which was surprisingly warm, and clutched it to her chest. Then she remembered what would happen if things took a turn for the worst, and began to hiccup as tears swelled in her eyes again.

"Tou-chan needs to go now, but I _promise_ I'll be back safely with Rin and Obito and Kakashi." Minato leaned in to kiss both Eri and Kushina's foreheads, and hugged them both tightly. He held still for a second or two. "I'll see you in a month. I love you." Then he looked up and gave them the reassuring Namikaze smile.

Kushina smiled back, and gave him a small wave. Eri copied her mother's gesture, and watched as her father disappeared before her eyes, awed by his infamous _hiraishin_ (though certainly not for the first time).

The room was silent and solemn, until Kushina turned and smiled at Eri, trying to make a blatant attempt to lighten up the atmosphere. Eri appreciated her mother's efforts, but could not get rid of the sinking fear she had for her father. War was not a game.

When Kushina saw that Eri would not cheer up, even at the prospect of ice cream, she poked Eri in the stomach. "All right. Since both Eri and kaa-chan are sad because Minato-kun left us, let's go find some friends to hang out with."

Eri gave her a blank look, to which Kushina returned a sadistic smile. The redheaded child whimpered a bit (it was never fun to be on the receiving end of that smile), willing her father to return home as fat as he could and tightening her clutches on her father's gift.

Twenty minutes later, after having been changed into more 'appropriate clothes' (more like into a silly _pink_ yukata), Eri found herself in front of the Uchiha Clan gates. It was strange, to be here; the only Uchiha Clan she had ever read about was dead. So as Kushina strolled through the streets, all Eri could think about was how the compound was like a ghost town, despite its livelihood and surprisingly high population. Apparently, the usually xenophobic Uchihas were used to the Uzumaki boldly walking around in their compound, because they only looked at her once, rolled their eyes, and returned to their work.

Finally, Kushina stopped before the most elegant and well-furnished house in the compound (and that said something because even the 'lowest' of the clan had fucking koi ponds in their backyard). She rapped on the front door several times obnoxiously, before calling out, "Mikoto! Fugaku!"

The door slowly slid open not long after her declaration. Eri found herself eye-to-eye with a relatively tall man with shoulder-length dark hair, and equally dark eyes. He wore a black kimono with an Uchiha fan symbol engraved in the front of the kimono over where his heart was. (Maybe being beautiful was an Uchiha thing because he was really-Eri abruptly dismissed the thought once she remembered Obito's boyish good looks). He gave her mother a disapproving look (Eri added him immediately to her hit list), and asked, "What brings you here?"

"Fugaku-kun!" Kushina said happily as she entered the household uninvited (it was apparent Fugaku had noticed the rude entry, but _suck it_). "Eri-chan and I were so lonely, we decided to drop by."

"I see," the man replied icily as Kushina took off both her and Eri's shoes, and entered the hallway, forcing Fugaku to flatten himself against the wall. "Well, please do make yourself at home."

"Mikoto-chan!" Kushina called out, ignoring Fugaku's deep sigh.

There was a slight thump, and Mikoto's head popped out from the corner of the hallway. The Uchiha First Lady beamed. "Kushina! What a pleasant surprise."

Kushina hurried over to where Mikoto motioned them from, and the mother-daughter duo entered a warmly furnished room. The sliding door on the opposite side of the room were open, exposing the room to the outdoor backyard of the Uchiha main family (Eri now realized they were fucking rich what with their zen garden and huge-ass koi pond). Eri, who was facing the opposite side of her mother as she was being carried the conventional way, watched in amusement as Fugaku smacked himself in the face. The two made eye contact, and Eri laughed. Fugaku simply rolled his eyes, and walked away.

"Eri-chan came with me too," Kushina said eagerly, and at her name, Eri turned backwards. "Look, look, Eri-chan. That's your new friend, Itachi-kun."

Before Eri could give her mother the "I'm going to be friends with whoever I _want_ to be friends with" look, she did indeed notice the small boy in front of her. He was… he was actually really cute. He had long bangs that just barely reached the bottom of his eyes, and his eyes were doe-like in their size and color; he had his mother's small nose and his father's pouty lips. The boy looked at her with a controlled dark gaze (though being the baby-size he was didn't help him look more intimidating), and then looked back at his own mother.

"Itachi-kun," Mikoto said softly. "This is Namikaze Eri-chan. She is Kushina's daughter, and just a year younger." She paused, then added. "She's also the same as you."

At this, the boy turned to her with newfound curiosity, and looked her up and down. Eri desperately turned to her mother because surely she wouldn't-

"Here, Eri can sit next to Itachi-kun," Kushina said (in faux and a perfectly controlled level of cheerfulness) as she lowered Eri right next to Itachi. "Mikoto-chan and I'll be in the kitchen. Don't do anything naughty!" She winked, and dragged the startled Mikoto out of the room, shutting it behind them after they'd left.

There was an awkward silence. Eri decided she could use the time to take a nap. While she didn't hold any prejudice against Itachi (like how he might grow into a selfless mass murderer in the twisted sense), she _really_ doubted she could hold a proper conversation with him. (He was like, what, two years old? He wouldn't even be able understand what she would say to him anyways).

"Hello," the boy said. "I'm Itachi."

(And of course geniuses had to break all stereotypes she had about them. Typical.)

But the Uchiha continued to stare at her, as if he expected a response. Annoyed, Eri answered, "Un. Hi."

At this, Itachi beamed brightly, startling Eri.

"What?" she asked nervously, scooting backwards from where she'd been sitting.

Itachi merely inched closer. "Same!" he declared, pointing at Eri then at himself.

Eri paused as she realized Itachi really was a genius. Sure, Eri could comprehend complicated theories and ideas and the significance of connotations in conversations because she was mentally 23 years old, but Itachi was only two years old at most. Here he was, a toddler and fully able to comprehend that Eri was also capable of high comprehension, and declare this analysis. No wonder he'd entered the ANBU at such a young age.

"Eri?" he asked. (And he was really cute, god. She wondered…)

Eri inched closer to him, and grabbed a lock of his hair. Itachi's eyes widened in shock, but still stayed still. Eri gently released the lock of hair, and ran her fingers through Itachi's hair, and… (it was _so soft._ How did it work?!).

"Nn. Same," Eri approved, releasing the boy from her grips.

Itachi gave her a bright smile, and reached to pull her into a hug (it seemed Uchihas only became incapable of hosting or expressing emotion once they reached pre-teen age). Eri tried to resist his tight hug, but the swaying momentum forced Eri forward. She let out a small _umph_ as she fell on top of him. Itachi giggled as Eri tried to struggle to get back up.

The door to the room slammed open, and the two startled toddlers looked up to stare at the equally shocked Fugaku, who opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

"What?" Eri demanded. Then, because Fugaku's eyes narrowed into slits that just _dared_ Eri to be more rude, she added, "Fu-kun. Need something?" The Uchiha patriarch growled in annoyance, spun on his heels as he slammed the door shut, and yelled (or what would count as yelling for an Uchiha), "Kushina! Your daughter _jumped on_-" The rest was drowned out by his loud stomping noise as he retreated to wherever.

Eri rolled her eyes, and pushed herself upwards, struggling to get back on her butt. It really was hard being physically a baby. During the struggle, she caught Itachi's eye, which was widened to fill up half of his face.

"Wow," Itachi breathed. "Brave."

"No," Eri argued. "Fu-kun rude."

At this, Itachi burst out laughing, his voice escalating louder once he noticed how hard Eri's arms shook from trying to get up.

"**Stop laughing**," she blurted out in frustration. "**Goddamn it**."

Itachi did stop laughing to stare at her. Eri realized she'd spoken to Itachi in English. And once Eri managed to roll off of Itachi, she had a brilliant epiphany. She turned her head to stare back at Itachi, who was now looking at her with a new kind of wonder, and felt a sadistic grin twist onto her face. She felt justified about implementing an additional portion to her original plan.

After all, there was no rule stating she _couldn't_ teach someone in the Narutoverse English… right?


	5. Chapter 5

Here is the next chapter! Thank you to everyone who followed me or my story (or both!), and to everyone who left reviews to this story. I always read the reviews, and would reply to each and every one of them, but I figured you lot would appreciate it more if I spent that time writing my story.

Let whichever holy deity that exists bless my beta winteralley for being an amazing beta.

* * *

"**Government**," Eri said, then repeated in Japanese. "Government."

Itachi listened in fascination.

"Say," Eri commanded.

"G—**Government**," Itachi parroted. Eri smiled, and Itachi smiled back.

"**Good boy**," Eri cooed, and patted Itachi's head. Itachi blushed.

Eri had visited Itachi's house daily since her last visit, as her mother found her father's absence more bearable while in the company of her friend (or so the jinchuuriki whined to Fu-kun, who responded by slamming the entrance to the house shut behind Eri and her mother). Every day, Kushina left Eri with Itachi in the morning, and took Mikoto to the room next door.

During this time, Eri taught English to Itachi, who was, admittedly, learning it at an incredibly fast rate (she was not ashamed to admit he was learning English a lot faster than she was learning Japanese). Once it was time for the two toddlers' lunch, they were brought together to the kitchen, where they would eat lunch with the solemn Fugaku, the quiet Mikoto, the chatterbox Kushina, and the prankster Eri, who took it upon herself to poke Itachi in the side whenever she caught him glancing at his father too often (it was her personal belief that being too concerned about the opinion of a strict man like Fugaku would only lead to misery).

Then, the two children returned to their original room with their mothers, who taught them various hand patty games; during this time, Eri pretended to be not as smart as she was when she was alone with Itachi, mainly because her mother had not yet told her to drop the act. Eri knew Itachi noticed the change each time, but he thankfully did not bring the topic up.

Once the sun was set, Eri would then leave with Kushina, feeling smug every time she noticed the sad gleam in Itachi's eyes as he waved goodbye. The two had gotten quite close throughout the past few visits. In fact, a couple of days after their first encounter, Eri had determined Itachi was loyal enough, and shown him the seal her father had made for her, which she kept tucked between her chest and shirt.

Currently, the two were in the first part of the phase, with the sun high up in the sky and Eri teaching Itachi more and more vocabulary.

"**Love**," she taught. "Love."

"Luhboo," Itachi copied, but Eri shook her head.

"**Love**," Eri said. She repeated the word, and opened her mouth so Itachi could copy the movement of the tongue.

"**Love**," Itachi said, even his 'v' on point. Eri blinked, then patted Itachi's head again. He really was a genius for a reason.

"**Car**," Eri stated.

"**Car**," Itachi said. Then he asked, "**What is car**?"

Eri paused, and said, "**Nevermind. Forget it**_._"

"**Nevermind**," Itachi parroted. "**Forget it**."

Eri grinned, but rubbed at her cheeks, a frown beginning to form on her face. There was a limit to which she could teach him words in this manner, seeing as she herself had a limited Japanese vocabulary and some English words simply didn't exist in this world. But she would try, until she found a new way.

"**S**_—_"

The door to the room slid open, and Eri clamped her mouth shut. The two toddlers shared a look, then glanced at who had just opened the door. Eri's palm dampened with sweat (the person hadn't heard, had she? Because Eri _really_ didn't have an excuse about how she'd come up with an entire language by herself).

Thankfully, the Uzumaki standing in the doorway didn't seem to have noticed. Instead Kushina put her hands on her hips, and smiled as she said, "It's time for lunch, chibis."

"Chibi?!" Eri exclaimed with disbelief. "Noooo," she grumbled, even as extended her arms out to be held by her mother. "No chibi."

But to the surprise of both Kushina and Eri, Itachi grabbed onto Eri's outreached hand, and shook his head. "Let's walk. Together."

Eri gave him a "why would I do that when I have someone to do it for me?" look, but Kushina laughed and agreed with Itachi, leaving the gaping Eri. Eri pouted, but allowed herself to be dragged up by Itachi. Using the Uchiha heir as a weight balance, she toddled over to the kitchen with much difficulty, and let out a sigh of relief when they reached the dining table.

Eri's stomach let out a grumble, and her ears flushed pink. When Itachi sniggered, Eri nudged him with her elbow, but otherwise refrained from saying anything except the quiet, "**Cram it**_."_

For once, Fugaku made small talk as they ate, but the topic of the discussion left Eri queasy, her stomach churning with nervousness.

"They're calling for more shinobi to come out of retirement, including clan heads," he said, halfway through the meal. "It seems Iwa's army has grown in size again."

Eri glanced at her mother, whom she knew had temporarily retired because of her. Kushina nodded, her attention focused on the dishes before her. "Yes, I received a letter from the Hokage yesterday to return to action."

Everyone in the kitchen room stilled, and Kushina paused as well, looking up from the delicious dish of cooked roots vegetables (the best kinpira Eri had ever had, she had to admit). "What?"

"But mothers of toddlers are exempt from being ordered back into battle," Mikoto exclaimed. Eri glanced at her in surprise; the Uchiha matriarch had always seemed to be well-collected in front of Fugaku, so it was her first time seeing her so distraught.

"That's only for the wives of clan heads," Kushina shook her head. "After all, if all the clan heads go to war, _someone_ has to lead the clan in their stead."

"Well, what about Eri-chan then?" Mikoto's voice quivered.

Kushina narrowed her eyes, before carrying over a bunch of kinpira over to her rice bowl. "I… was thinking about taking her with me."

"No!" Itachi yelped. Even Fugaku seemed surprised.

"Who else would I leave her with?" Kushina sighed, then took a bite of kinpira with rice. "Almost all day cares are closed nowadays—not that I'd ever leave her with half of them, dattebane—and the Hokage is too busy with diplomacy work that—"

"Are you _trying_ to insult me, Kushina-chan?" Mikoto growled (Eri was finding today to be quite the dramatic and interesting day. She regretted the absence of popcorn in the Narutoverse). "What, is our friendship of nearly ten years _nothing_ to you?"

Kushina blinked. "But—"

"Wouldn't you take care of Itachi if I were gone?"

"Of course, but—"

"But what?"

"I just… Since Fugaku-kun has also been called back into action, I thought you'd be busy, what with your Clan work and Itachi-kun to look after," Kushina said, bewildered.

" I can manage my time well, thank you very much. So as soon as both you and Minato-kun leave for active duty, Eri-chan will stay with us," Mikoto asserted, her voice just as assertive and dominant as anyone would expect a clan head's wife to be.

"Okay," Kushina concurred, lowering her chopstick from her mouth. Her eyes darted from Mikoto to Fu-kun, who gave her the don't-look-at-_me_ look. "That'd be great."

(Eri was starting to realize just how Mikoto and Kushina had become such good friends in their youth).

Once lunch was finished and the table cleared, Mikoto left the room. Kushina hurriedly carried Itachi and Eri into their usual play room, and gently lowered the two toddlers onto the cushions in the middle of the room. She then rushed over to the corner of the room, where she'd left her pack, and retrieved a thick, red book.

"Look, Itachi, Eri," Kushina showed the toddlers the front page. "This is a fuuinjutsu laced book that my mother read to me when I was a little older than you guys right now. But this book is special, because if you—" she flipped open to a random page, and pressed a word, "—do this, the book will explain for you."

Loyal to Kushina's word, the book began to drawl, "_tenno_. The royal leader of an empire."

Eri's mouth gaped, and she locked her gaze with Itachi, who seemed equally as bewildered.

"How?" Eri all but demanded.

Kushina smiled. "I'll teach you guys a little bit of fuuinjutsu when you can finish this book and understand it completely." She glanced up at the doorway, then passed on the book to Itachi. "I'll go make your unhappy mother happy, then come back, so help Eri-chan read this book, ne?"

Eri frowned at her mother's condescending command, but didn't get the chance to voice her irritation when Kushina left the room before Eri could open her mouth. With a sigh, she allowed herself to be settled in next to Itachi, who flipped open to the first page. Not long after starting the book did Eri realize why the book would have an automated dictionary attached: there were _kanji_ in this book. She huffed, and forced herself to focus. She was going to learn the mechanism behind this book's fuuinjutsu, even if it killed her.

In the end, Eri and Itachi didn't manage to get even halfway through the book. When Kushina and Mikoto both re-entered the room, Eri noticed the Uchiha matriarch was still stiff and cold towards her mother, but only so she could tease Kushina more than anything else. And by then, the sun had long set, so Eri and Kushina moved to the front door, saying goodbye to Mikoto and Itachi. Before the two could leave, though, Itachi perked up and exclaimed, "Eri, your book!"

Eri shook her head. "You keep for now."

"But… it's yours," Itachi's eyebrows furrowed.

"Ehh, it's OK," Eri shrugged. "We friends."

Itachi beamed, and waved his hands. "Un. Bye! Come again." Eri waved back with a smile.

On their way back home, Kushina told Eri the one advice she would always keep in her heart (one that would help her throughout the rest of her life): "Only anger an Uchiha if you're confident you can undo what you've caused."

* * *

The next day, Eri was pleasantly surprised to open the knocking door (a skill she recently developed) and find the (in)famous snake summoner on the other side. He was dressed in a classy blue kimono, his shoes in straw sandals. He looked bored and impatient, his arms crossed and his body tense.

"Eehh?" Eri's eyes widened. "Orocchin?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "My name is Orochimaru. You may call me Orochimaru-_sama_."

Eri smirked and pointed. "No. Orocchin."

Orochimaru tensed as he inhaled, then released his breath through his nose. He then pointed at himself and said again, "Orochimaru. You don't even have to add the—"

"Orocchin," Eri interrupted, nodding to herself. She moved to the side, and gestured for the man to enter. "Come in."

"You mean 'welcome'," Orochimaru automatically corrected.

"Yah, yah," Eri waved her hands in the air.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes as he entered the house, and removed his shoes. He looked around the entrance of the house, and turned to Eri. "Where's your mother?"

"Clean body." Eri reached up to tug on Orochimaru's hand towards the living room.

"You mean 'taking a shower'." Orochimaru allowed Eri to drag him, and was pushed onto the couch. "Are you not going to ask why I'm here?"  
Eri looked up at him with a surprised look, and pressed a book into his hands. "To play with me. Friend!"

"Well, yes, I did drop by so I could keep my promise," Orochimaru squinted his eyes as he read the title. Eri snuck under his arm and leaned into the man's cold body (he really was like a snake in both personality and body). "_The Governments of Ninja Villages_? Why in kami's name would you want me to read this to you?"

"Hard," Eri complained. "You explain."

Orochimaru's lips pressed into a thin line. "I'm glad you're using my visit for something productive, but isn't this just a bit too hard for you?"

Eri gave the snake summoner an equally unimpressed look. "Serious?"

"Do you know what _dokusai_ means?" Orochimaru demanded, pointing to a word on the back cover of the book.

"No," Eri deadpanned. "So you explain."

Orochimaru sighed. "It's about a government system, where the civilians—the normal people—decide what's going to happen with their village." He flipped open to the front page. "There are thirteen ninja villages…"

Ten minutes later, Kushina entered the living room, and was surprised to see Eri sleeping on Orochimaru's lap while the man himself continued to read the book, murmuring to himself, "That's not true, that kage wears _red_ robes on Tuesdays."

"Orochimaru-san?" she inquired.

He looked up with one eyebrow cocked. "Kushina, the books you buy Eri don't seem to be quite accurate. This book suggests Konohagakure is on friendly terms with Kumogakure, which we both know is completely false."

"It was written a while ago," Kushina shrugged.

Orochimaru laid the book down beside him. "It's important that Eri receive proper education if she is to reach her full capacity as a shinobi. I'm going to have to update your entire library."

"I couldn't trouble you with something like that."

"Knowledge is power," Orochimaru interrupted. "A shinobi should use it to the best of her full potential."

Kushina laughed. "Thank you, then."

The Sannin shrugged. "It's nothing." He glanced down at the small body lying on his lap. "Her language speaking skills have improved significantly."  
"Yeah," Kushina agreed. "Ever since she's been having daily playdates with Itachi-kun, she's gotten a lot better at speaking."

"I guess socializing can be beneficial for brats," Orochimaru muttered. Eri stirred and struggled to get up. Orochimaru (Eri noticed) pushed her up with his hands, supporting her weight. When she turned to him with an inquisitive look, he informed her, "You fell asleep around the time we started reading the second chapter."

"You complain too much," Eri yawned, and stretched her arms. "Good?"

"No, the book is terrible. I'm going to have to get you a new one or write one myself," Orochimaru stated.

"Okay." Eri rubbed her eyes, and patted Orochimaru's legs. "Good pillow."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you got something out of my visit today."

Kushina laughed. "Your seal is on the dining room table, Orochimaru-san. I'll brew some tea."

"Thank you," Orochimaru bowed his head. When he tried to stand up, Eri continued to cling onto his robe and mewed like a cat (she had to admit, pissing Orochimaru off was seriously fun stuff). He exhaled sharply, and picked Eri up with him and walked into the dining room, where he sat with Eri on his lap.

Eri watched in amazement at the seal before her, going so far as to drop the hair she'd been holding onto. There was kanji spread around the paper, lines of words radiating from the circle smack dab in the middle. The spaces between the words were even, and the number of words at the top of the seal was equal to the number of words at the bottom of the seal. It was… It was _art_.

"What do you think?" Orochimaru asked with a touch of what seemed like pride.

"Beautiful," Eri breathed, tracing the words. "You make?"

"Yes," Orochimaru confirmed, then frowned. "But there are some mistakes in it that I wanted your mother to take a look at. She's an incredible fuuinjutsu master, even better than your father, if I might say so myself."

Eri ignored the not-so-subtle jab at her father. "What seal for?"

"Do you know the _Saikan Chushutsu no Jutsu_?" Orochimaru asked. Eri shooked her head in response. Orochimaru continued, "It's a medical jutsu that Tsunade-hime made. It's a technique that removes—takes away—poisons from someone's body by using a kind of chakra-controlled liquid, which goes into the body and allows the poison to pass through all sorts of organs—body parts—and finally out of the body."

Eri nodded in encouragement, to which Orochimaru continued. "This seal is supposed to do that for specific kinds of cells, which I can then study without disrupting—interrupting—the outer physical part of the victim. We can use this seal on the orphans whose genes—the very small things that make up the body—were genetically altered—changed—without having outside factors influence the inner mechanisms—systems."

She gaped, and examined the seal again. Orochimaru was a genius, as well as Tsunade. She was starting to understand why people had looked up to him so much in the anime, and had been disappointed to such a great extent when he'd betrayed them. And speaking of which, how had he even ended up betraying Konoha? He seemed to genuinely want to help Konoha and its people. What had driven him away? (And how was she getting all these details about the anime, but not about her previous life?—again, the sharp dull pain).

"It's interesting, ne?" Kushina called out as she entered the dining room and placed two cups of tea on the table.

"Un," Eri nodded, and turned to Orochimaru. "Orocchin very smart. Eri like smart."

Orochimaru did not say anything as Kushina sat across from them, and Eri missed his expression because she had hugged him. When she leaned back, she saw him don a poker face; but behind his mask, he seemed to waver, as though he didn't know how to respond.

"No worry," Eri reassured him. "Fact, not compliment."

Orochimaru snorted, reverting back to his familiar asshole facade. "How nice of you to say that." He glanced at the seal, then back at Eri. "Well, what do you make of it?"

"Art!" Eri replied immediately. Kushina nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes, it is beautiful, but what about the content?" he asked.

Eri rubbed the back of her neck, and gave a small laugh. "No know fuuinjutsu."

Kushina chuckled. "Yes, you've got a lot of studying to do."

"You don't know fuuinjutsu?" Orochimaru demanded, and faced Kushina. "Why haven't you taught her yet?"

Her mother looked surprised by Orochimaru's outburst. "She's still having difficulty reading and understanding kanji. She can only read hiragana and katakana, 'ttebane. And she doesn't know how to write, much less with perfection, which is imperative in fuuinjutsu—"

"She doesn't know how to write?" Orochimaru asked in exasperation.

"No," Kushina said slowly. "She turned one year old last month, dattebane! Of course she doesn't know how to—"

"That's ridiculous," Orochimaru denounced. "I'll teach her how to read kanji and write then."

The mother-daughter duo shared a confused look.

Orochimaru wiped his face of any and all expression. "I can use the extra perspective when creating new seals."

Eri shrugged. "OK."

With that, her mother and the snake summoner turned to the seal, and discussed the importance of balance, which was lacking in the second to last row of the seal. Eri listened as much as she could, trying to absorb as much as she could in the process. But inevitably, biological tendencies took over, and Eri nodded off to sleep in the (surprisingly comfortable) lap of Orochimaru (she really had to stop falling asleep so easily, but she didn't want to stunt her growth. Truth be told, she didn't want to end up being short).

* * *

The day after Eri's fun visit with Orochimaru (he had even stayed over for dinner, and had taught her how to write hiragana), she was surprised to find Itachi… quiet. The boy was normally bubbly, though not arbitrarily talkative, and always eager to express his thoughts and ask for new English words to use. But today, he had her back towards her, and was reading the red book by himself. The sound of the pages being flipped was the only thing that occupied the otherwise noiseless room.

"Itachi?" she inquired. "**What's wrong**?"

There was no response, and Eri wobbled over to sit next to the boy, who then shuffled away.

"**Hey**," Eri said, her eyebrows bunching together. "**Tell me why you're mad**_._"

"**I'm not mad**," Itachi said, his eyes roaming the pages of the book too fast for him to actually be reading. But Eri could tell he was very upset.

"**Yes, you are**," Eri argued.

"**No, I'm not**_._"

"**Yes**."

"**No**."

"**Yes**!" Eri burst out. "**Stop lying**!"

"**Why do you think I'm mad**_?_" Itachi slammed his book shut.

"**Because—**" Eri paused. Itachi had a good point. Why was she so sure he was mad? His tone was calm. His behavior indicated he was upset, but she had a feeling it wasn't just as simple as that; he was angry _and_ disappointed. But how did she know that? In fact, how had she known Orochimaru had been moved despite his poker face the day before, that Tsunade's attitude had changed, that her father had been suspicious of her far before the truth had been revealed? Because those people were trained jounin (and extremely good ones at that), and she shouldn't have been so certain about their emotional states. She turned back to Itachi, who was staring at her with a solemn look, and finally realized Itachi's aura was coiled tightly, and vibrating at a familiar hum, which she'd always associated with anger and disappointment.

_That was it_.

"**The aura**_,_" Eri whispered. "**Oh my God**_." _

"Eri?" Itachi asked. She now saw that he was getting worried, what with his aura uncoiling from within itself, and vibrating at a different frequency of 'concern'.

"**I have been unconsciously associating the movements and frequencies of people's auras with their temperament**," Eri murmured to herself. "**That makes so much sense! No wonder I could decipher the intentions of well trained shinobi. They can't control the movement of their auras because the auras are reflections of their inner emotions; hell, they probably don't even know something like that even exists.**"

"Eri!" Itachi shouted. Eri locked eyes with him, realizing he had been calling for her the entire time.

"**Ah, sorry**," she said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"**It's OK**," he replied. "**What happened**_?_"

After Eri explained to Itachi about the existence of auras and their relationships with people in a mix of Japanese and English, and how she had been connecting the two together, Itachi gaped.

"**That's amazing**," he said with wonder. "Kushina-san **and** Minato-san**know**_?_"

"No," Eri shook her head. "**I never told them because I didn't think they'd understand**."

Itachi nodded. "**Makes sense. It related just to emo—emotions?**_"  
_That was a good question. Eri replied, "Un.**Even when**tou-chan **uses jutsus, they only change when his emotions change.**"

"**Not like Sharingan**," Itachi noted, then added. "**Still perfect for shinobi**. **Use often**!"

Eri nodded. "**Yeah, it's definitely an advantage I can exploit. But… don't tell anyone about it**_._"

When Itachi gave her a quizzical look, Eri explained (parroting Orochimaru), "**Knowledge is power. Let's keep especially this power to ourselves**_._"

"**OK**_,_" Itachi paused. "**And… I'm sorry, got**jealous_._"

"**Jealous**," Eri corrected before hugging him. "**It's OK. I should've told you that I wouldn't be able to come**_._"

The two then opened up the red book together, agreeing that they would finish up until the middle of the book, at the very least, by the afternoon.

Eri had a feeling her mother felt bad about visiting the Uchiha compound almost daily, because the next day, Kushina turned their afternoon meetings into a fuuinjutsu lesson. Eri herself enjoyed it, and was exicted to see how Itachi would be challenged by conceptual theories.

"Calligraphy is very important in fuuinjutsu," Kushina explained, her voice serious. "Essentially, we are using words as a medium for chakra to take action on paper. It involves the simultaneous use of both the yin-release and the yang-release, but we'll get to those two later. First, the basics!"

Eri cheered, at least until Kushina got out two long strips of paper, a pad of ink, and two paintbrushes.

"To perfect calligraphy, you must first learn how to write," Kushina said in a deep, calm voice (but Eri knew Kushina was just dying of laughter inside because she would be too, if she were in her mother's position). "Itachi-kun, how much have you mastered so far?"  
"Only hiragana and katakana," Itachi admitted.

"Hmm.. Then today, you and Eri will practice writing hiragana," Kushina decided. She pushed one set to each of them, and sat with her shins tucked under her. "But first, you have to learn how to prepare your ink." Eri's mother pushed a block of ink and a flat, black rectangular block to each of them. She demonstrated how to grate the block against the grinding surface, to keep the block vertically against the surface and to not press too hard. She then added a little bit of water, before mixing the carved bits of block and water together to make the final ink product.

"Only people who don't appreciate _true_ fuuinjutsu art use pre-made ink," Kushina declared, before pausing to mutter, "Oh kami, I sound like Daichi-sensei."

When Eri and Itachi finished making their ink, Kushina held both of their products in her hands, inspecting their quality. The fuuinjutsu master nodded, then placed the ink before the children again. "Good. Now, we'll begin our practice. Here, watch how I use the brush."

Eri and Itachi watched in awe as Kushina dipped the tip of the brush in the ink with her right hand, her left hand splayed against the ground to keep herself balanced. Kushina lifted the brush with practiced precision, and lowered the tip onto the paper.

"You want to make sure you follow the proper sequences of the words," her mother instructed as her brush moved with a surprising amount of grace. "While you do so, you want to allow the brush to follow the flow of the word. Don't force it. We will practice with the hiragana 'ah' first."

Eri and Itachi both tucked their legs under them to emulate Kushina, and dipped their pens in the ink, only to be startled when Kushina barked, "Eri, you dipped it in too harshly; you're going to end up ruining the brush hair that way. Itachi-kun, that was too light; you want to make sure you have enough ink on the brush to keep you going while you create the seal. Do it again."

The two struggled to follow the Uzumaki's orders. Eri would've found how she struggled to hold the brush in her pudgy little hands funny if it weren't for how frustrating her failure was. Her arms shook, vibrating from trying to hold a steady position with a goddamn brush in her hand.

"Your arms are quivering, Eri," her mother scolded. "That was good, Itachi-kun. Both of you, work to keep your arms balanced. Now, try writing the hiragana 'ah'."

Eri brought the brush closer and closer to the paper before her, trying her hardest to maintain some form of control over her arm, but her muscle tensed, sending her arm into some kind of spasm. With a cry, she dropped the brush onto the paper. She couldn't do it. Her motor skill was too limited, and her forcing her arm to work magic was not helping.

And by the look on her mother's face, Kushina had known something along this line would occur. She removed Eri's brush from the top of the paper, amused by her daughter's frustration and high expectations.

"That's okay," Kushina chuckled. "You're one year old, 'ttebane. Don't look so sad. Eri, use your finger instead. We can let you use the brush once you can hold one without having your arms move around like a dying duck."

Disgruntled, but not completely discouraged, Eri stuck her index finger in the grinded and wet ink next to her, and dragged her finger across the page to draw the hiragana 'ah'. Apparently, finger dexterity also wasn't natural yet for a one year old, because her 'ah' was something akin to a giraffe with a rather short mouth and a fat tail. When she glanced at Itachi's work in comparison, she wanted to go die ( Itachi noticed her embarrassment, because he opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but clamped it back shut.)

"I see you've worked on your hiragana before, Itachi-kun," Kushina noted. "That's quite beautiful. You can move on to write the hiragana 'ee'. And Eri… Do that again. Those little lines that stray from your letter are indications that your hands are shaking too much. Be more confident in the way you write." Eri glanced at her mother, her finger wavering in the air above her ink. Kushina gave her a soft smile. "You can do it."

Eri once again dipped the tip of her finger into the pool of black ink, before lifting her arms up and lowering it from above the paper before her. She drew the straight line, then followed up with the round curve that wrapped around the straight line. Once she was done, she stole a look at her mother, who was examining her and Itachi work. Eri let out a sigh of relief when her mother nodded.

"If you twist it around, it sort of kind of looks like the hiragana 'aah'—or a flying monkey, but I digress. You can move onto 'ee' now, Eri. And Itachi-kun, the left part of the 'ee' needs to be sharper at the end. Repeat it."

Both Eri and Itachi submerged their utensils, Eri her finger and Itachi his brush, in the ink, and drew.

"Eri, you need to pause after you finish your drawing, then _lift_ your finger off the page. Don't drag the ink around like that. Itachi-kun, you didn't make it sharp enough. Both of you, repeat the 'ee'."

Itachi made no blatant sign of annoyance, but Eri could tell from the corner of her eye that he was getting a little pissed (most likely at himself). Mikoto also seemed to have noticed, looking up from her work, to watch her son in amusement. No one scolded the Uchiha heir about his mistake, as Fu-kun (as excited as he had been about the lesson) was missing; he'd been called back to the war the day before (Eri tried very, very hard to not remember her mother was due to leave in the next week).

"That's sufficient. Now, we'll move onto 'oo'..."

By the end of the session, Eri's arms were trembling from holding her arm out for so long. She simultaneously questioned the meaning of life ( how could she hold a spoon to eat her food, but not a brush? And why did holding her arms out for so long tire her so much?) and answered them (most likely because the spoon was made lighter through fuuinjutsu, which explained the kanji on its handle; and because she was one year old, she literally was weak). Itachi seemed to show similar signs of stress and fatigue, though to a lesser degree. Later, when the two children were cleaning up the mess they'd made over a tarp with which Mikoto had been smart enough to cover the presumably expensive tatami mats, Itachi assured Eri that he'd taken lessons in hiragana and katakana before, and that she didn't need to worry about her being behind.

Eri chortled, before pointing out she was (physically) only a year old, and that it was _normal_ for her to not be able to hold brushes and paint, much less write with grace as he had.

Itachi gave her a strange look, before asking, "Not… not mad?"

Eri returned the look with full vigor. "About what?"  
He was the first to break eye contact. "**Nevermind**." Eri watched as Itachi tottered away (and tried really hard not to laugh at how adorable he was).

As soon as the room was properly cleaned up, Kushina resumed the normal routine of taking Eri home. Once the Uzumaki and Namikaze were done putting on their coats and shoes, Eri waved at Itachi goodbye. He looked back at her with a look different from before, clearer, in a way, before waving back.

The streets were relatively clear of other people and cold (Eri tried to ignore the fact that the streets were so quiet because most shinobi and their friends had entered the war, as her mother would soon do). On their way home, Kushina pointed to the stars in the sky, and named several to her as Eri listened in awe. Kushina promised Eri that later, she would explain the importance of the positioning of the stars in space-time fuuinjutsu, but only after Eri learned the fundamentals.

Kushina and Eri returned to the Namikaze home, and Eri stayed in the living room with her papers filled with hiragana while Kushina worked in the kitchen to make their dinner. With a smile, Eri traced the letters she had drawn with difficulty. She was getting better, though there were limits to which she could focus and draw. Admittedly, her drawings were horrible, the lines shaky and ugly, but Kushina said nothing about it, only nodding in approval (probably because Eri was a baby with limited physical functions). Eri's sleeves were also a little damp with ink, as her arms had given up on her several times throughout the session (but being the monster master she was, Kushina had forced Eri to continue, saying the lessons would teach her _discipline_).

Eri thought it had been a peaceful day, if she ignored the pain in her arms.

At least until her father's seal against her chest began to burn.

* * *

I am evil. Mwahaha


	6. Chapter 6

Here's the next chapter! I'm planning on updating regularly on Wednesdays, with chapters being around 5000 words, so please look forward to a constant, steady update pattern. To all my new followers and favorite-(ers?), thank you! And to those who reviewed, double thank you! For those of you asking whether Kushina and Minato are going to die or not... Well, that really depends on Eri's ability and her actions. I can't force my character to do anything they don't want to do, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Great thanks to winteralley, who worked with me really hard on this chapter!

* * *

The world spun as Eri screamed in alarm. She stared at the burning it wasn't burning per se but it was—

(Oh my god was he ok what was this he's hurt? oh no, no, no, what about KakashiandRinandObito are they safe? Please don't be dead oh my god please don't)

— it was getting hotter and hotter. It would burn her if she kept clenching onto it like this, both hands firmly clutching the seal. But she just couldn't bring herself to care.

"..ri?"

Kushina appeared before Eri in a blink of an eye, but Eri could not remove her eyes from the piece of paper she was gripping between her small hands. It was strange how the paper was shaking so rapidly— but then again, that could've just been her hands trembling.

(he's alive, right? oh god how does this fucking thing work tou-chan how could you not tell me how this fucking_ works_ haha i'm not a genius like you i can't just figure this out please be safe please please)

Eri blinked, strong pressure on the sides of her upper arms holding her tight. The room spun on a tilted axis, and Eri squinted her eyes. "Kaa-chan?"

"It's OK, Eri," her mother brought her close. "He's OK. He's OK."

Eri breathed in, and held her breath, before slowly exhaling. She felt her body shake along with her quiet sobs, her shoulders quivering.

"Look," Kushina mumbled into Eri's ear as she slipped the seal out of Eri's small hands. "It's still intact, isn't it? If he— if he had been badly hurt, the seal would've ripped in half or turned to ashes." Eri watched as her mother traced the random patterns on the seal. "Hmm.. Yes. Looks like he only just got burnt a little bit. Your tou-chan is very strong, isn't he? He'll be fine. It's OK. Tou-chan is fine."

Tears collected and fell from Eri's eyes, leaving her a soggy mess.

(If this was what loss felt like, then she was never going to let him go out to war again. She hated the enemy who'd hurt her father, hated the Hokage who ordered him out onto the field, hated the world for being so cruel.)

That night, Eri dreamt of something just as terrifying. There was smoke in the air, around her, on her clothes and body, choking her in her lungs. She ran and ran in the darkness, looking for a place to hide and wanting to scream but not doing so because _they _would get her. There were loud tutt tutt tutt's in the air, innocuous in sound. But they would kill her if they went through her, those bullets, so she ran and ran and ran because she was a _coward_ and everyone in her team was dead dead dead.

* * *

Understandably, Namikaze Eri was not in a good mood when her father's team returned from their mission the next week. She stood on her own two little feet as she glared at the gate of the village's walls with her mother, her arms crossed and tense. She was trying to make herself promise that she wouldn't beat her father up into pulp for giving her that mini heart attack, but couldn't quite bring herself to make the promise.

But her stiff and stubborn wall of anger crumbled down once she spotted her father's aura, even before she saw his electric-shock bright blond hair sway in the wind. He was accompanied by (one, two, _three)_ all of his team members, though they looked like they'd had better days. No one was limping to a significant degree, though Minato was missing his jounin jacket. The team itself was silent, even the usually boisterous Obito quiet.

"Tou-chan," Eri called out, trying to calm her quivering voice to no avail. "Tou-chan, tou-chan!" She ran towards her father, who had long spotted her and given her a smile, and felt herself being lifted into his embrace. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, feeling her heart break when she smelt smoke. She clenched the collar of his blue sweatshirt. "I thought... I thought you were _dead_."

"Your seal left her with quite the impression," Kushina said with a new emotion Eri couldn't quite place. "...and with me as well, 'ttabane."

"Sorry," her father whispered into her hair. "A lot happened on the mission. We have to head straight back to Hokage-sama's office."

"I'm going too," Eri declared before her mother could say anything more. She wasn't going to let her father out of her sight for the entire week, if she could help it. Eri spared a proper glance at her father's team, and truth be told, was not happy with what she saw. Rin was grimacing every time she took a step, so she probably had sprained an ankle; Obito was glaring at the ground as he walked, and Kakashi was tense. But Eri had a feeling it wasn't with each other that the two of them were upset at.

It seemed her mother had also noticed the tension within the team, because the (in)famous Uzumaki was also quiet, taking Minato's hand as she walked beside him. Once they were in the Sandaime's office, (as Eri watched in fascination) the strain seemed to increase.

"We left for the mission at 0900, February 12th, the 12th year reign of the Sandaime. As reported previously, the Hiraishin has not yet been tested with multiple younger shinobi, so Team 7 travelled by foot. Thus, it took us four days to reach the Land of Fire's border. Once at the 14th border post at 2100, southeast from the Land of Earth, we set up a camp, with two shinobi alternating between night shifts. As soon as morning broke at 0600, we packed our camping gear, and entered Kusogakure territory. However, contrary to the information we'd received regarding the village, the land we entered was empty, and without any Konoha shinobi. Upon further inspection, we found all comrades to have been killed by Iwa nin, after which we were ambushed by the same suspected nin. There were approximately fifty of them that had attacked us. Another team of Konoha nin that had been dispatched after our team finally had caught up, and worked with us to fight back the Iwa nin. As soon as all 50 enemy forces were defeated at around 1600— at the cost of our comrades' lives— more Iwa soldiers began to appear from the farther inward lands of Kusogakure. After making the decision that it would be unwise to stay where we were, we made a tactical retreat and arrived back at the 14th post at 2000, which we found to be filled with dead Konoha shinobi. After protecting the land from any invaders for the next two and a half weeks, we were replaced by the next team, and ordered back into Konoha," Minato said in monotone, his arms held crossed behind his back. If Eri couldn't see auras, she'd say he was almost calm. But because she could, she knew he was upset by the death of his comrades. There were probably some ex-classmates on the decimated team, by the looks of it.

There was silence as the Sandaime inhaled his daily dose of nicotine and released it in an exhale. His eyes were downcast, and his brown aura vibrated with anger and grief. "I see." He stood up, and looked at the team members. "Good job holding the enemy back from further entering into the Land of Fire. By order of the Hokage, Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin are now promoted as chuunin, appropriate through field experience."

Unlike what Eri expected, no one on the team was excited about the news. Kakashi's aura was agitated, like he wanted to say something— but she knew he wouldn't, never to the Hokage, never break his little fragile shinobi mask. Rin just seemed sad and _tired_. Obito, on the other hand…

"Hokage-sama," the Uchiha said in an unfamiliar low voice. His head was bent so his eyes cast downwards, and Eri could see his shoulders shake.

"Yes, Obito-kun?" the Sandaime asked.

"Why… Why must we fight?" Obito took a deep breath. "In… In the— the Iwa shinobi were _kids_. Younger than me and Rin and Gai and— but they weren't even, even as fast or as smart as Kakashi. They had no reason to be sent out at that age." He whispered, "They were so scared."

"You seem to forget Obito-kun," Sarutobi walked in front of the crying boy, and laid a gentle hand on his shoulders. "You are a child as well. And though it breaks my heart to send you all to the battlefield, you and Kakashi-kun are shinobi, just as Minato and I are. And as shinobi, it is our job to protect Konoha. Don't you want to protect Konoha and the people who live in it?"

"Yes. I want to protect my precious people," Obito answered, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"That is why we fight," the Hokage returned to his place behind his desk. "The sooner we end this war, the sooner those children will be returned to their homes, and the sooner we can have our shinobi return home."

With that, the three chuunin were dismissed with orders from Minato to meet at the same training ground the next morning. The Namikaze family were alone with the Hokage. Sarutobi slumped into his chair, and leaned forward, his face covered by his hand.

"Hokage-sama. Though they were killed too quickly for my team to notice, the Iwa children were indeed the modified kinds," Minato continued his report, and took a step forward to place a scroll on the Hokage's desk. "In the scroll are the bodies that I could seal into paper. This should help Orochimaru-san and Tsunade-san's investigation."

(And yes, her father was awesome, because who the hell fights off fifty enemy nin with just seven comrades, two of them genin and one inexperienced, while simultaneously collecting the bodies of the people he's killed for a long-term benefit? Her father, that was who.)

The Sandaime lowered his hands from his face, and Eri could understand how the Hokage had aged so fast in the anime. His creases on his face seemed to be have deepened, the roots of his hair getting more faint and fading into a light brown. His eyes did not meet Minato's as he reached for the scroll. "I see. Thank you. You are dismissed."

But before Eri's family could leave the office, the Hokage called out, "Both you and Kushina will have to leave for duty in two days. If Eri needs someone— "

"It's okay, Hokage-sama," Eri's mother spoke with a gentle smile. "Mikoto has promised to care for her in my and Minato's absence."

The Hokage nodded to himself. "Ahh, Mikoto, yes, that'd be a good choice." He paused. "Well, then… get a good rest until then. And make sure… make sure you unwind your team. It was their first kill, no?"

Minato's lips tightened into a thin line. "Yes, it was. I'll be sure to check with everyone."

Finally, the Namikaze household left, walking through the streets of Konoha. Perhaps it was because Eri didn't normally leave her home or the Uchiha compound that it was only now that she was realizing the impact of the war. The previously loud and rambunctious market was now stifled. There wasn't as much food as there used to be; the carts that used to overflow with fruits and vegetables were now only half full. The people themselves were tense around each other, as though they suspected one or the other to pilfer from their store. Eri's grip on her father's mantle of hair tightened. She didn't like the people so… so cold.

"It's okay," Kushina repeated for the second time. "Things will change."

She turned towards her mother, who was looking straight at the road they were walking on. And Eri felt herself fill with confidence as she regarded her mother's straight posture, calm eyes, and confident stride. Her mother was strong, and her father was strong. Eri shifted to emulate her parents' postures.

The only thing left would be to make sure she got strong too, so that she could protect her parents' backs from unexpected danger.

* * *

The next morning, Eri was not permitted to watch the team train. Apparently, her father had been impressed by her team's individual achievements during the previous battle ("Obito used a katon jutsu in the right time and place, Rin rattled her team's ears off _during battle_, and Kakashi kind of managed to squeeze himself into a role involving the other two," her father beamed). But Konoha nin did not promote Kiri virtues for a reason, and today's training was supposed to more solidify their somewhat maturing team relationship. Eri had a feeling Team 7's training was going to involve a lot of 'bonding over pain', what with her mother whispering ideas excitedly into her father's ear.

Honestly, she wanted to follow the team into the Forest of Death to make sure her father wouldn't disappear. She wasn't worried about how dangerous the Forest of Death was; her father would keep her safe, even if Madara himself was the threat, because her tou-chan was a badass, genius ninja. But her father rejected her proposal. He was adamant about her being in a safe place, especially what with the excessive training his team would do involving _Hiraishin_.

Apparently, the act of space-time travel was extremely disorientating (how surprising) when the person being moved hadn't consciously made the decision to teleport himself. It was okay for full-grown ninja, because they were used to being flung around upside down, twisted into a weird position, and generally leading disorienting lives, but it was a harsh activity for inexperienced ninja, no matter how smart they were (like Bakashi, for example). Thus, the day was supposed to be full of "hi sense—how'd I—wait a mo—oh god I'm going to be siIIiickkK". (And of _course_ she didn't want to just visit the training session to watch Kakashi be sick all over the place!).

Still, her father vehemently disagreed, and disappeared right before she could pull her little puppy dog eye trick on him (he was adapting faster than expected to her weapon of cuteness). So Eri was stuck in her home with her mother, because Itachi was apparently too busy for her to visit (Eri swore the little bastard was pulling this fake event just to get revenge on her, the grudge-holding twerp). Seeing as she wasn't going to be allowed to see her father until the evening, Eri declared she wanted to see her _other_ best friend.

"Orochimaru-san is busy, Eri," her mother scolded. "He doesn't have time to— "

"He promised I visit when I want," Eri interrupted, rolling from one end of the couch to the other (oh god she was so bored). "And jiji won't play with me. And Jiraiya is not in Konoha, and Tsunade-san's busy."

"Tsunade-_san_?" Kushina cocked her eyebrow. Eri gave a small 'yes!' when she saw her mother packing Eri's things into a small pack (really, her mother spoiled her just as much as her father did).

"Tsunade-san's _scary_ when busy," Eri paused, remembering the time Tsunade had drank the entire table of alcohol at her birthday party, then added. "And just scary in normal time too. Kaa-chan, take also my hiragana paper that I did!"

Her kaa-chan laughed and slid in the paper filled with Eri's (incomprehensible) hiragana writing into the bag. "All right, all right." She reached down and picked Eri up into a tight embrace, Eri's legs wrapped around her mother's waist. "I mean… I do remember him saying you could visit. I guess Orochimaru-san could babysit you for a while. I have a bunch of stuff I need to restock on before I leave, anyways." Eri flinched at the implication, to which Kushina patted her back with gentle hands.

Eri buried her face in the crook of her mother's neck, inhaling the familiar scent of spices and citrus, and missed how they'd left the house in typical ninja speed (her parents had a thing about walking at civilian speed when they were feeling lazy).

When her kaa-chan's footsteps slowed, Eri looked up from her hiding place, and was surprised to find the two before Konoha's general hospital. To be honest, she thought that Orochimaru would have created a place for himself, someplace clean and isolated, where he could do whatever the hell he wanted without people bothering him with stupid questions. When the mother-daughter duo entered the hospital, a blonde, tall nurse glanced at them, then narrowed her pupil-less, clear blue eyes suspiciously, watching the duo from behind the front desk.

"Senpai," the nurse laid a hand on her hips, and glared. "Pray tell, what is it _this_ time that you've done to your daughter?"

"Hehe," Eri watched in amusement as her mother rubbed the back of her neck. "We're just here for Orochimaru-san." She turned to Eri and smiled. "Eri, this is Yamanaka Ayako-san. She's my junior from the Academy, and Inoichi-kun's sister."

Eri glanced at her nervous mother, then at Ayako, before making gurgling noises. Apparently, that was the right decision, because Ayako chuckled, as though Eri had made the typical baby response, before straightening her back again. "She's only one year old, Kushina-senpai. Be careful."

"Yes, yes," Kushina glanced around the hospital. "Ne, do you know where Orochimaru-san's office is?"

Eri watched in fascination as Ayako stiffened, her aura becoming rigid and vibrating nervously. "Orochimaru-sama's lab would be on the third floor, the last door on the left."

"Ah, thank you," Kushina nodded. "And about the Allied Mothers Force, I don't think I can join. It was an honor to be invited, but I've been reassigned onto the active forces by Hokage-sama. I also think it would be best if my… I would do better on the front lines, considering my abilities."

Ayako sighed, easing into a more relaxed stance. "Ahh… I see. Yes, yes, that's true. Well, no worries. I'm sure this war will end soon, and _then_ you can join our force." With a wink and a wave, the Ayako nurse then disappeared.

Kushina finally turned away, and began to look for the staircase.

"Ne, kaa-chan," Eri tugged at her mother's beautiful hair. "Why is Ayako scared of Orocchin?"

Kushina walked west, where there was an opening in the wall. "Well… Some people are just not used to how Orochimaru-san is different."

"Different?" Eri asked in alarm. She didn't notice anything strange about him (besides his abnormal body temperature, and the typical I-am-a-genius arrogant attitude.) "How?"

The opening turned out to be for a hallway, from which Kushina pulled herself away from. She then turned east, where there was another opening. "He kind of resembles a snake, and some people think it's scary. And he kills people with snakes, which people think is weird," Kushina admitted.

Eri's eyebrows furrowed. "But… But shinobi kill with triangle knives and wear weird clothes and stand upside down on trees and—" She stopped when Kushina gave her a strange look (which made sense, seeing as her mother had grown up with all of this being the norm).

"Orochimaru-san is just a bit different from the rest of Konoha, and that's why people think he's strange," Kushina said, a sense of finality in her tone.

Finally, (with more help) Kushina climbed up the stairs, arriving at the door of Orochimaru's lab twenty minutes after their arrival. Eri thanked God she hadn't inherited her mother's lack of sense of direction, because she was _really_ good at knowing where (— a pain, a sharp jab in her temple as her thoughts cut and she couldn't can't remember what she was going to think). Before Kushina could knock on the door, an irritated Orochimaru opened the door, his lips twisted apart into a snarl.

"Orocchin!" Eri squirmed in her mother's grip, reaching out for the snake man, who took her in his arms with practiced ease. She inhaled his familiar peppermint scent, and grinned at him. "I'm visiting you."

Orochimaru clamped his mouth shut as he moved into the room, Kushina following behind him. Eri glanced around the room: there were two office desks on the opposing sides of the room, with rows of lab tables spaced evenly against the wall on the opposite side of the door. There were tubes and cages with mice and paper and graphs scattered all around the lab tables.

"Yes, I can clearly see that. What I'm wondering is _why_." Orochimaru gave Kushina a pointed look.

Kushina gave him her best 'I am innocent' look (which was worth nothing, because neither Eri nor Orochimaru was convinced). "Eri-chan wanted to visit you, and I need to get something done— alone." She plopped down the small pack on the nearest chair, which didn't go unnoticed by Orochimaru.

He shot Kushina his trademark unimpressed look. "You want me to babysit your daughter?" The question ended up sounding like a statement.

Kushina beamed, already having snuck halfway out the door. "I'll be back in time for dinner— hopefully. Eri's diapers and snacks are in the bag. Don't feed her too many sugary things or she'll get a sugar high. Thank you, Orochimaru-san!" Then, Eri's mother was gone.

Orochimaru and Eri locked eyes, and she realized (somewhat in horror) that the Snake Sannin would be changing her dirty diapers. "You are going to get potty trained today, whether you like it or not," he hissed. (Eri hmm-ed and haw-ed as she questioned whether watching Orochimaru squirm really was worth her dignity.)

When she noticed a spike of aura from behind her, she tugged away from Orochimaru's tight grips to glance at the man in the corner (with an incredible ability to mask his presence, it seemed). His face and neck were slick with sweat, his eyes darting from her to the Sannin. He was _scared_ of Orochimaru. And it seemed Orochimaru was aware of this (but he wasn't happy about it, not at all, not when he expected— )

Eri frowned. "You. Out." She felt Orochimaru snort in amusement, but she kept her glare on the man before her. "Out!"

The man collected all his paper and shoved them in his pack, his fingers shaking. "Y-Yes!" he yelped, and ran out of the room past the two.

"Aren't you a bossy Namikaze," Orochimaru tutted, lowering Eri onto the couch. "Now I won't have an assistant for the entire day."

"He's _mean_," Eri snapped.

"Of course," the Snake Sannin rolled his eyes. "And tell me when you need to urinate during any time of the day, so I can show you how to use the toilet." His eyes narrowed into thin slits. "I will _not_ be changing dirty diapers."

Eri shrugged. "Whateva'." She plopped down sideways on the couch. "Orocchin, pass me bag."

"Uzumaki needs to teach you manners before you end up adopting the way your mother speaks, including that ridiculous verbal tic of hers," Orochimaru muttered, but strolled over anyway (because he was Eri's little bitch— not that she would ever say that out loud).

"The paper, _please_," Eri gave him a brilliant smile with all her teeth. "See? Polite."

Orochimaru wordlessly dug around the bag, and finally pulled out crumpled wads of paper. He cocked his eyebrow. "Eri, I have taught you better than to keep trash in your bag."

Red bloomed across Eri's cheeks, followed by a rush of heat. "T— That— Not _trash_. It is my hiragana paper!" she growled. "My first writing words. Read it!"

"You mean these are your first written words," Orochimaru corrected as he uncrumpled and straightened out the pieces of paper. He was still, but Eri's eyes followed the way his aura trembled. "Well." He paused, then opened and closed his mouth several times. "Oro_cchin_. I'm glad you didn't make the effort to write out my full name. I wouldn't want you to burden yourself with something so bothersome."

He rolled his eyes, but a smile graced his lips. "Though it's difficult to distinguish what exactly was written on the paper. The words look like they were written with your finger."

Eri laughed sheepishly. "Brushes are heavy."

"With me as your sensei, that'll be the least of your worries," Orochimaru waved the paper in the air. "Now, what shall I do with this?"

"It for you." Eri frowned. "And you my _sensei_? Says who?"

Orochimaru sniffed as he folded the paper into a square, and tucked it into the inner collar of his kimono shirt. "Says me. You have a lot of potential, which can only be cultivated by someone with great talent and intelligence: namely, _me_." He inspected the inside of the bag. "I'm sure your parents won't mind it. In fact, they should be honored to have a respected shinobi like myself teach their child."

Eri burst into an explosive giggle, which died down once she realized he was only half-joking. "Heh… OK, not funny. I get it."

"Now," Orochimaru laid all the contents from the bag onto the coffee table and frowned. "Why in kami's name would you need a bunch of strings, marbles, and— _five_ books." He gave her an unamused glare. "I don't have time to read you five books, _hime_. I need to actually work."

Eri reached for the string, which was twisted and tied in random places for her to untangle. "String for finger de— dex… dext…"

"Dexterity?"

"Yah. String for finger dextri— _dexterity_, marbles for hand muh— mm, how do you say? The… theeeeee—"

"Muscles?"

"Yah. Marbles for hand muscles. And I can read books to me," Eri smiled.

Orochimaru crossed his arms. "All right, but if you start whining like last time about how your arms hurt from holding the book…"

"I proh'mise I won't do that," Eri beamed. "You do your job, I do my."

He glanced back at the table, most of which was covered in sweets. "Please don't tell me you eat that amount every single day."

Eri blinked with as much innocence as she could. "No…?"

With a huff, the Snake Sannin turned around, and headed to his desk. "Not only must I teach you how to read and write, I also need to change your life diet."

Eri cocked her eyebrow, twisting to stare at Orochimaru. "My kaa-chan and tou-chan can do it."

"Your _okaa-chan_ is a child, and so is your o_tou-chan_. Actually, in this case, your father has some semblance of cognitive abilities, so I'm sure he would be a sufficient parent; your mother, on the other hand… Anyhow, the reality is your father is on the battlefield, and your mother will be gone soon too. _Someone_ has to make sure you don't turn into a barbarian in the meantime," he grasped a folder, and walked over to the cage he'd examined before. "Don't you agree?"

Eri had a feeling she was supposed to feel offended by the man's insults, but because he was a jackass to everyone, she simply shrugged. "OK. Makes sense."

"'Makes sense', she says. Child, learn to speak in full sentences," he scolded, tapping the pad before him with his pen.

"Uh huh," Eri mumbled, her focus on the tangled string before her. Her stubby fingers just couldn't get the right amount of pressure on the right places. (The exercise had been introduced to her and Itachi by her mother, when the two had visited the Uchiha compound. Eri still couldn't tell if this was a genuine finger exercise for shinobi children or if her mother was fucking with her. Either way, it was a fantastic distraction.)

Eri looked up from her work when she heard a loud poof in the room, her eyes widening once she realized what Orochimaru had summoned. The snake was a blood red, with orange, uneven blotches decorating the snake's skin. Its tongue slipped out of its mouth, flapped around in the air, and slid back. She slid up Orochimaru's forearm, and curled around his hand.

"This is Hanako," a rare smile flittered across Orochimaru's face. He placed the snake beside Eri, who watched in fascination. "She's a corn snake."

Eri watched, her eyes wide in fascination. "Hello."

Hanako looked back at her, then at Orochimaru. When he made no obvious movement, the snake turned to climb onto Eri's lap, and slither up and down her side. Eri laughed in delight, and turned to Orochimaru (who was watching with something similar to fondness). "Does she like me?"

Hanako hissed in response before Orochimaru could say anything. He cocked his eyebrow at the snake, who ducked her head and quickly slithered away from his view, and down Eri's legs.

"Yes, she thinks you're very cute," Orochimaru returned to his place behind the mouse cage. "She can keep you company while I work."

"OK," Eri chirped, petting Hanako, and reached for her strand of string.

A comfortable silence settled in the room, the only other sound the hum of the machines of the room and the sound of Hanako moving around Eri. From the corner of her eye, Eri could see Orochimaru examine the rats one by one, and write down details that she herself did not notice. He seemed to be used to lab work, as he moved with grace around the room, his eyes needing only a few minutes to assess the situation.

Eri allowed her fingers to untangle the knots on the string, to pull and tug without much thought. Her life had been pretty stable, with her mother always home to take care of her, but this was one of the most comfortable silences she'd ever had the joy of experiencing. There was no need to prove herself, because Orochimaru already knew she was smart. She didn't feel the need to express her love whenever she had the opportunity to, because he would be here, safe in Konoha (unlike her parents who would leave, who would have to be in battle, who would...) where she could talk to him whenever she wanted to.

She was enjoying life. Her family and her friends were precious to her. She loved them so much, just watching their faces light up with joy, or listening to their cheerful laughter, or listening to them rant about fuuinjutsu was enough to make her happy too.

She did not think of the war that they would soon leave to participate in. She did not think about how close her father had been to being burnt to ashes. She did not dare to imagine the future tragedy of her father's team. Because she was going to change all that. She would never, ever let one of her precious people die.

Ever.


	7. Chapter 7

Urmagod. Here is Chapter 7. It's a bit embarrassing that this chapter is a week late, especially considering I promised a steady and constant update in the chapter right before this. But my amazing beta (winteralley!) noticed some critical weaknesses in the prior TWO versions of this chapter, and since, ya know, high quality is important, I figured it would be better for the chapter to be late than to be rushed. As always, huge thank you's to my beta, who somehow manages to find time to edit my stories while working! She is amazing.

Regarding questions about Eri's pairing, I think it's still a bit too early for us to conclude anything. I'm quite certain neither Eri nor Itachi (who is only, like, two years old...?) regards the other romantically (which would actually be quite creepy), and we haven't even met Shisui yet, so I think it's fair that we wait to see what'll happen with our young Namikaze.

Please enjoy!

* * *

Not long after he heard Eri fall asleep, Orochimaru finished his work. He had observed how the lab rats had reacted to having the genes of the modified children within them. The results were as expected: most of them died, the foreign gene spreading throughout the rats' nervous system and wrecking what control the rodents had over their bodies. It was a fascinating process to witness, though the minute-based observations were tedious to complete.

What was unexpected was the amount of aggression that the rats showed in the few hours before their death. As though knowing they would depart the world of the living, they scurried around, fighting other rats in the vicinity if there were any, or tearing up the area around them. They did not respond to any other forms of stimuli, including food, electric shock, and changes in environment. All they seemed to be focused on was on attacking others in their presence or tearing things apart. That was not to say they turned mindless, however. If the mice were taught a skill prior to being injected with the genes, like finding a way through a maze, then they could repeat the same skill. The skill would be distorted into a form of aggressive action, but it would still be derived from the original technique taught.

This would explain the mindless, and almost fearless, way the mutated children were reported to have attacked Konoha shinobi. After all, shinobi with little experience, especially children, were supposed to cower in the presence of experienced shinobi of the other villages. But the Iwa children had been spurred on by something, one Konoha nin reported as "a creepy, mysterious evil".

Orochimaru scoffed at the superficial and supernatural explanation. The evil was explained by the science: the implanted virus had spurred on the more aggressive nature of the children, while maintaining the ninja skills and techniques they had learned at whatever form of academy they had.

Despite all his efforts, he didn't yet have an explanation for the physical transformations of the children. If he could just figure out what was exactly was making the children's bodies mutate into growing those extra horns, or the third arm, he could find a way to reverse the changes, which was apparently the goal of Sarutobi-sensei. He didn't know what his sensei wanted with the "fixed" children, but he would do as he was ordered (because that was what Konoha shinobi did, they were _loyal_, they followed orders, they didn't question. He was a Konoha shinobi too, then, wasn't he?)

With a frustrated sigh, Orochimaru turned to lean against the wall, his eyes landing on the sleeping Namikaze child. She was lying on the couch on her side, her shoulders rising with the rhythm of her inhale and exhale. Short flaming red hair shrouded the child's face, spread around her head. Her fingers occasionally twitched, the only sign she had yet to enter REM sleep. Hanako had strewn herself over the child's arm, enjoying the up-down ride. Here, again, was something that was still a mystery to him. The red-headed child adored him, trailed after him when she could, asking questions about this and that. She even gave him a nickname "Orocchin", with an attitude Orochimaru dared to label 'fond.'

Despite his lack of care for social etiquette, Orochimaru was no fool when it came to the social behaviors of human creatures. He knew he was feared and admired by the Konoha population, by both shinobi and civilians. Nearly everyone found his appearance strange, his curiosity to be intimidating. Humans were afraid of things they could not understand or sympathize with, and dehumanized all that conflicted with their way of life; thus, those around him labelled him to be something apathetic, and distant and cold.

In part, it was true. He was not warm to others, and felt no need to be so. Emotions intruded on logic, anyhow. Thus, it was illogical for him to feel any need to be superficially kind to others so he would receive more affectionate treatment from the Konoha population. Besides, the fears of people did not hinder his contribution to Konoha, which he believed to be of greater importance than the treatment he received from the people around him. In actuality, fearful people were easier to predict and interpret. Emotional people could be controlled.

Even those who admired him and felt some form of connection to him were easy to understand. Kushina saw him as a comrade, one who also understood the hardships of being treated like an outsider for a part of them that they couldn't change. Minato respected him as his sensei's teammate, one who knew thousands of jutsus and who could always reign the infamous, reckless Jiraiya.

But the way Namikaze Eri regarded him was different, in a way that he could not understand. The way she treated him and spoke to him intrigued him, more than her genius did. Psychologically speaking, children had to mirror and echo the actions of the adults around them. Plus, physical attributions of strangers were important factors of how children—especially toddlers Eri's age—reacted to said strangers. Yet from the first time Eri met Orochimaru, she seemed intrigued and attracted to the man in an intellectual way.

Orochimaru figured the child's curiosity resonated with him, as he saw a younger version of himself within her. Truth be told, he wanted to see what was going on in that tiny head of hers, what whirled in her brain, what molded her to seem so mature in her understanding of the world. He wondered how she would react if he were to inject the first Hokage's cells into her, if her accelerated intelligence would influence her compatibility with the cells.

There was a lot of potential within the child that he wanted to cultivate. He wanted to see how he could influence her growth. She was a younger version of Hatake Kakashi, the cautious little brat, and far more vulnerable and receptive to another's manipulation. Yet at the same time, he wanted to leave her be, prevent any and all external factors from changing her, and examine the end product. He could understand Jiraiya's fascination with the child; the offspring of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina was bound to be unique and powerful, with ancient genes of abundant chakra and a brilliant mind being her parents' legacy.

Alternatively, Orochimaru didn't know what exactly it was Eri saw in him. But he knew it wasn't a monster (like the rest of Konoha's population). In fact, it felt like something akin to… family.

Orochimaru gripped the table next to him at the thought. He hadn't had a family in decades. It was now a foreign idea. When they'd been alive, his parents shared similar features to his own, resembling those of a snake and stemming from a clan long extinct. They never looked at him as though he were an abomination of nature; they accepted him, his curiosity, his desire for control. And when he'd had his parents, the pointing and staring hadn't mattered. But now they were dead, while the disgust of others had remained.

A glance at the clock reminded him that it was time for lunch, and Orochimaru sighed. He knew from his previous inspection that the child hadn't packed any nutritious food. No, rationally speaking, the child was too small to physically pack her own things; _Uzumaki _hadn't prepared any proper food for Eri. Orochimaru scowled. And to think the child actually believed her parents had any idea about what they were doing while rearing her this way.

He traipsed over to the couch, and watched the child's steady breathing. He knew children needed to be fed at strict time intervals (and he'd never admit he knew this based on the book he'd bought on raising children—much to the horror of the store owner. He'd simply wanted to understand how the child could be raised, how factors would influence her). Since Orochimaru usually didn't bother to eat unless he really needed to, he had no food in his office next door. He'd have to take Eri out to an outside restaurant to feed her. (He ignored the small part of him that suspected Uzumaki had been aiming for this exact thing; both the child and her mother had a penchant to force him to socialize, it seemed). Orochimaru reached down and dismissed Hanako, ignoring the baby snake's betrayed look.

"Child, wake up," he commanded.

Eri whined, her pitch high and quivering before fading away. When Orochimaru shook her again, she simply rolled over to her other side, away from the Sannin's hands. Sighing, Orochimaru resigned himself to his own fate, and picked her up into a gentle embrace.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked as he left his office, being sure to close and lock his door, and headed down the stairs.

"Ramen," she grumbled into his hair, which she had managed to clutch onto in the short period of time.

"Something _healthy_," he scolded, turning around the corner and walking down the halls. He ignored the shocked and awed stares, some of which were in horror and others in fascination.

"Ramen with veggies," she mumbled, and shifted to a more comfortable position.

"If we get anything else, will you not eat it?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yah," Eri mumbled into his hair (for the life of him, Orochimaru could not understand her—and her mother's—fascination with his hair).

"Fine," Orochimaru sighed, leaving through the hospital exit and heading for Ramen Ichiraku, where (in his opinion) Kushina had dragged him far too many times after their missions together.

"Thanks," Eri added after a significant amount of time, apparently remembering her manners.

"You're welcome," Orochimaru replied.

Once they'd reached the ramen stand, the red-headed child seemed to _magically_ wake up, struggling in his grip as she stretched her arms and legs. After a few blinks, she was wide awake and aware, grinning in pure anticipation. When Orochimaru sat down with Eri on his lap, he realized what she was so excited about and gave her an unimpressed stare.

"I'm assuming your parents don't let you eat ramen often," his question sounded more like a statement than an actual question.

"Yah," Eri giggled, and attempted to hide herself in the cluster of Orochimaru's black hair. "They say it's too salty."

"And rightfully so," Orochimaru growled, before turning to (the some-what shell-shocked looking) owner and ordering one miso ramen and one veggie ramen. "Your mother will not be happy with both you and me."

Eri shrugged. "It was yo'h idea."

"Your," Orochimaru corrected, and narrowed his eyes. "Don't try to slither out of this problem by yourself."

"Hehe. OK." (Why was she different? Why didn't she fear him?)

Before Orochimaru could scold the child any further, a familiar voice called, "...Orochimaru?"

After sending Eri a 'I am not done getting upset at you' look, the Snake Sannin twisted around on his seat to meet Jiraiya face-to-face. He gave his (ex?) teammate a nod. "Jiraiya."

His teammate's face scrunched into a confused expression. "You're… at Ichiraku… Ichiraku, a ramen stand." When Orochimaru gave him the usual 'oh, no, _really?_' look, Jiraiya added with the same stupid look,"I… thought you were—" his eyes flickered to the owner, whose ears seemed to perk up despite the busy chopping and cooking, "— interested in eating a different genre of food."

Orochimaru cocked an eyebrow, and twisted around, exposing Eri to Jiraiya. (His grip around her clenched, because this was a rather vulnerable position he was putting her in). "Hime here didn't want to eat anything but ramen," he drawled, watching as Jiraiya's scrunched eyebrows pushed up further into the man's forehead.

Eri shot him a dirty look. "You suggest first!"

"But you insisted on eating this dish," Orochimaru shook his head, as though he were in a helpless situation. "I had no choice but to feed you this; you said you wouldn't eat anything else." Before Eri could protest, Orochimaru turned to Jiraiya, and jerked his head to the seat beside him. "Care to join us?"

"I—" Jiraiya paused, and his shoulders shook as he laughed. "Sure, I guess. I don't see why not." The big man walked over to the duo, and clambered onto the seat beside Orochimaru, who twirled back to face the booth.

As Jiraiya ordered his own meal, Eri looked from Jiraiya to Orochimaru, and Orochimaru could see her deciding whether she should move onto Jiraiya's lap to play with white hair. She remained on his lap.

"Hi Jiraiya." She frowned. "Jiraiya… Jicchin? Ji-chan?" She seemed to finally arrive at a revolutionary conclusion, and pointed at the man with boundless energy. "Kaeru-ji!"

"Kaeru-ji?" the two Sannin echoed, and Eri nodded, her head shaking up and down.

"Kaeru and Jiraiya!" she smiled.

Orochimaru tried to control himself, really, he did. But… _Frog_-ji was just too hilarious of a nickname. The laughter escaped his lips before he could stop himself, his shoulders shaking with mirth. He felt tears collect in the corner of his eye, even; he had to clutch his stomach to control his shaking. Eri's laughter that joined his sounded like music to his ears.

When he finally stopped laughing, he absorbed the full extent of Jiraiya's embarrassment. As always, the tips of the idiot's ears turned red. And because Orochimaru was so busy trying to collect himself (he never laughed like that in public—he hadn't laughed like that in a while), he couldn't stop Jiraiya from exclaiming, "at least it's better than Orocchin!"

The two bowls of ramen that appeared before the Snake Sannin shook slightly before being set down on the booth. Orochimaru shot the snorting owner a hard look, and could feel the incredulous stares of the people around him.

But there was no need for Orochimaru to defend his pride, as Eri placed her hands on her hips. "Oi," She narrowed her eyes. "I call you Kaeru-ji, not Ero-Sannin. Be…" ignoring the sputtering Jiraiya, she turned to Orochimaru with a frown. "Ehh, how do you say? Thanks? Thanking?"

"Thankful," he supplied.

She whipped back to Jiraiya. "Yah. Be _thankful_."

Hiding his smile, Orochimaru forced Eri to sit down properly, and handed her chopsticks. "Alright, that's enough. Eat your food, hime."

"Orochimaru, what kind of words are you teaching this kid?" Jiraiya asked in a shrill voice.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "I did not teach her such ill-mannered vocabulary."

"Then, shouldn't you, ya know, scold her for using 'bad words'?" Jiraiya inquired, a hint of hope in his voice.

Orochimaru veiled his surprise at Jiraiya's words. (Did people see Orochimaru like that? Like someone who was authorized to take reign of Eri's education enough to scold her for her mistakes? Because despite his prior declaration, he wasn't sure if his role as her sensei would be accepted or not). Instead, he replied, "She wasn't wrong, so I see no need to correct her."

As Orochimaru reached for his own set of chopsticks, he saw Eri's strange look as she bit her lower lip. "What is it?" He prodded.

"I… no can use," Eri waved her hand around the chopsticks.

Orochimaru cursed to himself when he realized she wouldn't physically be able to use chopsticks, much less hold up a spoon. He glanced warily at the bowl of ramen before the two, ignoring the wild slurping noises coming from his right.

"Then I'll just have to feed you," he declared, then hesitantly added, "Do not be too concerned. I'm well acquainted with the theory of hand-feeding children." (He knew reading wasn't the same as actual practice; apparently Eri recognized that too, as she gave him an 'uh huh, _sure_' look.)

"Heh, look, the brat's copying your expressions," Jiraiya pointed out.

"Finish the food in your mouth before you speak, you barbarian," Orochimaru snapped. He glanced at the steam rising up from both the bowls before him. "Let's wait until the ramen has cooled down."

"OK," Eri conceded, leaning back against him. "Wake me later."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, about to question whether she really was going to sleep for such a short period. But he missed his chance as she slipped into unconsciousness almost as soon as her head touched his chest. Rolling his eyes, Orochimaru shifted his arms so she would be more comfortable, and fixed their position so she wouldn't fall off his lap.

"So," Jiraiya spoke slowly, his eyes fixed on his teammate. "What's up with you and the kid?"

"You've been here for ten minutes, and you ask me _now_?" Orochimaru snorted. "Uzumaki left the child in my care, because she had 'things' to do alone."

Jiraiya nodded. "Aha. She's probably restocking her weapons and armor, since she's leaving tomorrow." His eyes slid down to the child sleeping in Orochimaru's lap. "Hime here is apparently very worried about her parents' safety, and is against her parents participating in the war."

"I'm guessing she will stay with Mikoto while the two are gone, then?" Orochimaru asked.

Jiraiya replied, "Nn. I think it's a good idea, personally. She'll be as safe as the Uchiha heir in that compound—which is guarded pretty damn well, I have to say—and not very lonely." Jiraiya paused, his chopsticks hanging in the air, and peered at Orochimaru. "Why? You wanna look after her instead?"

Orochimaru remained expressionless (because that was an absolutely ridiculous notion). "Nonsense. I am too busy to care for the child every day. She'd end up missing a meal or two, and would be bored to death. She would most definitely be safer and entertained within the Uchiha compound."

Jiraiya shrugged, returning to his ramen. "All right. I'll take your word for it."

"And what are you doing in Konoha?" Orochimaru inquired. "I'd heard you'd been relatively busy with your research beyond Konoha's walls."

Having been teammates for such a long period of time, Jiraiya caught onto what Orochimaru was insinuating immediately. "Ah," the white-haired man continued to eat his ramen at the same rate. "Yes. I've found some interesting material in this amazing hot spring for my next book, which is gonna be based in Konoha. The place was full of busty, eager women—a lot of them were super ferocious too. Any man would get enamored by them."

In other words: _There were kunoichi who were attempting to infiltrate Konoha by seducing Konoha shinobi._

Orochimaru ignored the incredulous looks of the people around them, and cocked an eye at Jiraiya. "I see. Were you crazy enough to bring them to your home afterwards?"

_Were they successful?_

"I only brought one or two of them to sightsee Konoha. I'd introduce them to you, but unfortunately, they're not your usual type," Jiraiya flashed his teammate a grin. "The hot springs was in this beautiful place surrounded by a bunch of boulders. I had a hard time sneaking in to watch them. I don't think I can peek on them again."

_Some of the spies were successfully caught. The kunoichi were from Iwagakure, and were not related to the mutated child soldiers. Jiraiya's spy within Iwagakure was compromised._

"Strict security has never been a problem with you and your disgusting hobby before," Orochimaru cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, things happened. It's a good thing the two girls liked me a lot; the rest didn't even know I was there," Jiraiya reassured.

_The two girls were currently in T&amp;I, and were not likely to be released. Konoha's involvement with the spy in Iwagakure was unknown._

"Knowing your stubbornness, I'm willing to bet you already have a plethora of other hot springs chosen to spy on next," Orochimaru accused.

Jiraiya laid down his chopsticks calmly, having finished his ramen. "Actually, I might have to lay off the hot springs. There's something more urgent like, say, the plot of my story." The Sannin glanced at something only he could see in the sky, before flashing Orochimaru a grin. "Looks like sensei has missed me in the time I was gone. I need to head out now."

_There's more to the kunoichi spies than what is on the surface_. _Sarutobi-sensei doesn't know of it yet._

"Then I'll be sure to join you in sensei's office later. Send me a hawk," Orochimaru tilted his head in acknowledgement as Jiraiya dropped several coins of ryo on the booth.

"Will do." With that, Jiraiya disappeared within the crowd.

Orochimaru laid a hand on Eri's arms to wake her. Almost instantly, the child awoke. The ease with which she awoke and fell asleep would have been suspicious had Orochimaru not witnessed her do it so naturally in the numerous times he'd been with her. (How did it work? He knew children had to get an average of 14 hours a day, so it was not strange that she would sleep so frequently. But how was she capable of easing into and out of sleep so easily?)

The child looked around the restaurant, her eyes wide. "Kaeru-ji?"

"He left due to some urgent business," Orochimaru explained, then reached for the pair of chopsticks and spoon.

He broke the noodles into small pieces to place on a spoon, and lowered the spoon to Eri's mouth level. She opened her small mouth, and clamped down on the spoon, chewing on the noodles. She glanced at Orochimaru.

"What is it, child?" He prodded.

"No eat?" She quirked her eyebrow.

Orochimaru's lips tightened into a thin line as he glanced at his own bowl of ramen. "I dislike cold food."

Eri glanced down at her lap, and chewed her food. "Oh." She continued to fidget, and glance from him to the bowl (it appeared she hadn't adopted Uzumaki's verbal tic, but had created her own physical one; her left eye continued to twitch every time she was nervous). With a sigh, he raised his hand to signal for the owner.

"Teuchi-san," he called. "I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but would you be so kind as to fill my bowl with warm broth?"

Eri beamed, and opened her mouth eagerly. As if this wasn't his first time feeding the child, Orochimaru swiftly dropped the prepared the chopped noodles into the child's mouth. Once Orochimaru received his own warm bowl, he also began to eat. Surprisingly, the ramen was better than when he'd last had it.

That was how they spent their time at noon, eating and feeding in a calm atmosphere, despite the lack of conversation.

* * *

"Eri," Kushina sang as she peeked into the room. "I'm here."

A sharp hiss stopped her from continuing her (lovely) song. So instead, she tip toed inside the room, and closed the door behind her. A smile blossomed on her face once she saw her baby sleeping soundly on the Sannin's couch, with a corn snake strewn across her legs. Orochimaru was sitting behind his desk, pages of paper scattered on his desk.

He cocked his eyebrow. "You've arrived earlier than expected."

She strode across the room, avoiding the pieces of paper on the floor, and stood before him. "There weren't as many people at the market as I expected," she explained, placing a paper bag on his desk.

He glanced at the bag, then back at her. "This is?"

"Bread and staple food." She raised her eyebrow. "You're not gonna be of much help to Konoha if you don't eat, 'ttebane."

"Blunt as always, I see."

Kushina smiled back at the man, and turned to her daughter.

Orochimaru stood from behind his desk to walk over to his couch. "Your daughter can sleep for more than fifteen hours; her current siesta shouldn't be much of a surprise to you. She's only a year and a couple months old, after all. Were she to sleep any less, she'd stunt her growth." He snorted. "Her sleeping will be imperative, seeing as she'll want to be taller than her mother."

"My height is _average_ in Konoha, 'ttebane!" Kushina narrowed her eyes, only whispering because her daughter was still sleeping.

"Of course, of course," Orochimaru waved his hand nonchalantly, and leaned down to pick Eri up. "Eri, your kaa-chan is here."

Eri stirred, rubbing her eyes. Kushina reined back from cooing at her irresistibly adorable daughter, because she knew how pampered kids would turn out: ie, her ex-classmates from the Academy.

"Don't rub your eyes," Orochimaru scolded. "That'll ruin your vision."

Kushina watched as Eri obediently dropped her arms and snuggled against the Snake Sannin. Kushina would be the first to admit her daughter had a bit of a rebellious streak, so watching her be compliant was quite the treat.

"Come here to 'kaa-chan," she held her arms out before her. Eri slid into Kushina's embrace.

"Thank you," Kushina grinned as she accepted the pack from Orochimaru. "I hope Eri wasn't a big burden to you today. Because if that's the case, I can make sure to leave her with someone else next time."

"It was fine," Orochimaru crossed his arms. "I think it'd be best if she only brought one book the next time she visits; she only got half way through a single book, after all. Also, I had a female attendant change her diapers midway. The next time she visits, I expect Eri to be properly trained in toilet etiquette."

"Ahh," Kushina smiled with faux ignorance. "I completely forgot about that. I'll be sure to train her soon."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Of course you 'forgot'."

"Kaa-chan, dun' be mean," Eri grumbled, interrupting Kushina from speaking. "And I visit when I want."

"Of course you will," Kushina patted Eri's back. "Oh, Orochimaru-san, what are you doing this afternoon?"

Orochimaru glanced out the window, before sliding his eyes back to the mother-daughter duo. "Apparently, nothing. What is it you need from me this time?"

"Minato and I are having some people over before we leave for our mission," Kushina beamed. "We'd love to have you join us."

Orochimaru opened his mouth (obviously to retort "I do not have time to resort to your silly little 'partying'" or "I have more important things to do, like save Konoha" or "Do you Namikaze couple have nothing better to do than party all the time?"), so Kushina cleared her throat and added, "Jiraiya-san is also coming too, 'ttebane. He wanted to share something along the lines of 'hot spring babes' and 'rock monsters.'" She paused, then frowned. "Was that too obvious?" Espionage was never her forte.

"No, not until you uttered that last sentence," Orochimaru rolled his eyes, and sighed. "All right, I'll be there. What time do I have to be there by?"

"Seven in the evening," Kushina slid her arms into the straps of Eri's bag, and walked to the door. "Eri, say bye-bye to Orochimaru-san."

"Bye, Orocchin," Eri yawned.

"You mean, 'See you later'," the Sannin corrected.

"Yah, see you later," Eri mumbled.

Kushina smiled again, and waved goodbye as she left the office, closing the door behind her. She walked down the hallway, down the stairs, and past the rows of doors (she ignored the sharp stares from the ones that recognized her, some respectful and some fearful.) She was glad Eri was asleep; her daughter was somehow hypersensitive to others' emotions, and Kushina always felt guilty it was because of her.

When Kushina finally left the hospital, and headed towards her house, she caught a familiar whiff of sea water. She frowned, whipping around to look for the source of the smell, but was disappointed to find none (nothing but the frightened expressions of the people, who'd been startled by her sharp movements, scared of the potential threat that she was). She gripped Eri tighter.

She would never forget the smell of Uzushiogakure, her home, her mother's home, _Mito-sama's home_. It was a beautiful place, surrounded by sparkling, pale blue water. Fish exotic to Konoha swam along its borders; the baby blue sky encompassed the entire island. A place that was filled with laughter, with smiles and happiness.

Kushina continued her stride home. There were many things she did for her daughter, many things she would do. She would tear down villages, and kill a thousand men to keep Eri safe. But the one thing that Kushina wanted to do—to show Eri the livelihood of Uzushiogakure and its people, to let her hear the laughter of the mischievous children with similar red-hair, to introduce her to the sparkling sea water of the surrounding ocean, and to chase her through the tall, grand buildings of Uzushio—was impossible. Because even as a fuuinjutsu master, with both the Uzumaki and the Kyuubi's chakra, Kushina could not change or alter history. Because Uzushio was in ruins, its people scattered throughout the world, and its sea, now empty of fish, still had to recover from having been tainted with shinobi blood. Because Uzushio was no more, its beauty non-existent without its people.

She felt her lips tense into a stiff line, and tried to ignore the loneliness that bloomed in the pits of her stomach. She loved Konoha (even if it did not love or accept her), because she loved the people of Konoha. She loved Minato, and Eri, and her friends and her kouhai. She loved coming back from missions to a _home_.

But it was different from Uzushiogakure. That was where she'd been born, where she'd first learned about chakra, where her father had shown her the wonder of fuuinjutsu and her teacher had taught her how to create her own seals; it was where she'd made her first friends, where her aunts and uncles and cousins had once lived. It was a place that was distant in her memories, because she'd left at such an early age; but at the same time, the few images she held were vivid, because Uzushio's mystical and entrancing aura left great impressions on both its natives and visitors.

The full understanding and complete mastery of advanced fuuinjutsu.


	8. Chapter 8

Finally, here is what has been long awaited (hopefully by you lot): Chapter 8!

Huge thank yous to winteralley, who noticed a shit ton of mistakes in this chapter and helped weed them out.

If you see anything odd, please message me or leave a review. If not, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

When Eri heard the bustling noises around her, she knew without much prompting that her parents had hosted another gathering. She opened one eye, recognized her room, and finally pried open the other. The room was dark, but a sliver of light reflected on the wall through the slight opening of the door. In the thin ray of light, Eri watched drifting green particles. Dormant most of the time, they floated aimlessly in the space before and around her. But they hummed with the intensity of something fierce and powerful; that was the only reason Eri didn't tinker with them, at least until she could understand them better.

She toddled over to the door, and pushed it open. The sudden light of the hallway blinded her and she flinched, shielding her eyes from the assault. But she still trudged on forward, using her hands to cover her eyes. Finally, she reached the stairs. To descend down the set, she had to repeat the process from before: land on her stomach, flail her feet around until they hit the surface of the step immediately below, and repeat. She was only just getting used to walking with the ability to balance her weight; she wasn't confident enough to walk down stairs.

As soon as she reached the bottom stair, she waddled over to the living room, from where most of the voices could be heard.

"...and Kushina will head towards Sunagakure. In the meantime, Inoichi—" the voice abruptly stopped.

Eri stared back at the group of adults who'd turned to her. As experienced shinobi, they'd probably known she would approach them, so she felt no need to explain herself. Instead, she trudged over to Orochimaru, who was closest, and raised her arms. The Snake Sannin rolled his eyes as he lifted her into an embrace.

"Carry on," he ordered.

Shikaku's eyes swept over Eri. "As I was saying, Kushina will head towards Sunagakure to join Daichi's team in the assault. Inoichi, Choza, and I will head towards the border of the Land of Earth, to check out the 14th post. Joining us will be Hitoshi and Ichiro's team. Minato will check up on the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th post with his Hiraishin before joining us at the 14th post. Once he joins the team, we will push forward into Kusagakure. Our goal will be to restrain the advancement of the Iwa nin stationed within Kusagakure, and to gather— not kill— the mutated child soldiers." His eyes glazed over as he continued to point at the map.

"Kushina will continue to push into Sunagakure. Since Sasori of the Sand left Sunagakure, their general manpower has decreased significantly. According to the previous behavior patterns of Suna's Kazekage, he will also be out on the field; he can't afford to stay holed up in his office anymore, not after that bomb some of the Suna shinobi set off near Konoha's walls." Shikaku shot Kushina an annoyed glare. "But you must be careful to not underestimate their Kazekage; you are entering his territory, which is, obviously, entirely encompassed by sand. All tables are turned against you. The only reason we're sending you out there is because of your advanced fuuinjutsu ability and your chakra chains, along with that ridiculous chakra reserve of yours."

The tips of Kushina's lips curled. "I get it, 'ttebane. I'll be careful."

"The goal of your mission is to push back the Suna forces that are stationed along the borders between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire; but the psychological impact we leave behind is more important. Suna is not completely immersed in this war. It has only occasionally attacked us from behind the forces of the other villages, meaning the Kazekage is unsure whether to continue the siege or not. It's understandable, considering their forces are tiny compared to that of ours, and all trade bringing their necessary resources— like food, oil, and weapons—has been halted because of the war. It would be suicidal for them to commit an all out attack against us. That's why we need to leave behind a strong impression—"

"OK, stop beating around the bush. You know I'm gonna sack 'em all," Kushina rolled her eyes.

Shikaku sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course you will. Now, you just need to push back the forces into the border of Sunagakure. Daichi's team will do the rest of intelligence gathering."

The seven shinobi in the room were stiff and tense. Despite Shikaku's attempt to convey a sense of lackadaisical attitude towards this meeting, it was obvious that everyone was nervous.

Eri frowned. Wasn't the Hokage supposed to give out missions and have them debrief? She caught Shikaku's gaze from across the room, and he gave her a tired, lopsided smile. "Hokage-sama is bombarded with enough work as he is. He has all these demands from the Daimyo, from the small council, has to order the repairment of breached walls-things that require his immediate attention." Shikaku yawned. "It's troublesome, but as the jounin commander, this is the least I can do."

Jiraiya stretched his arms, relieving the tension from his body. "It's a good thing those two spies were caught immediately. I'm glad they had some information that was of use."

"I wonder what they were thinking, attempting to seduce Konoha's grand spymaster," Choza murmured aloud. "It seems really idiotic."

"Well, Iwa nin aren't known for being the smartest of the bunch," Inoichi added.

"Which is why their medical advancement is such a mystery," Orochimaru interjected, his eyebrows bunching into a frown. "It's ridiculous. They shouldn't be this far ahead in cell manipulation. For—"

"Oi, oi, Orocchin. Before you get into all that medical mumbo jumbo talk, translate it into human speak, will you?" Jiraiya interrupted.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "It is not my fault you have the brain of a turd. But since you so eagerly beg, I shall do so." He turned towards the group. "The change in the children's body, as I have previously reported, is abnormal. It not only alters the physical appearance of the children, but also the internal drive. It apparently isn't enough that they are able to harden their skin and grow incredibly dense and hard material from their body; they also become aggressive, and cannot be excited nor depressed by external stimuli. Seeing as Iwa shinobi are incapable of healing the simplest injuries for their soldiers, I deem it impossible that they were capable of manipulating the children's cell manipulation."

"So you believe there's something that they derived this mutation off of?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes. But their method is crude," Orochimaru spat. "No proper procedure at all. I'm willing to bet they simply took blood samples from the original and injected them into the children." The Sannin shook his head. "But I only have two test subjects. I can't conclude much from the two, seeing as one is half-dead from being cut up in a fight, and the other is only in a _slightly_ better condition."

"Hokage-sama wishes for us to capture more of the children shinobi. I believe you'll be receiving new… _test subjects_ soon." Try as he might, Choza seemed to have a hard time saying that without much disgust, Eri noted.

"A good decision," Inoichi added quickly to remedy for his teammate's unintentional insult. "The children were obviously used as experiments. We need to find a way to counteract against this genetic aspect of them before Iwa finds a way for their adult jounin to adopt it. The fights will become more drawn out and complicated if the adult soldiers were to gain this ability."

"Then we should all head back home, and get a good night's sleep before we think more about it," Jiraiya drawled, scratching the back of his head.

The other shinobi seemed to agree with the Sannin, as they started to end their meeting with the usual "then we'll meet again tomorrow morning at the gate" nonsense. The Ino-Shika-Cho team was the first to leave, and the Sannin the last ones, lingering behind for some extra "Kushina plz follow the rules" and "Minato, we're counting on you" motivational talk.

"Why here?" Eri asked aloud, figuring it was now appropriate for a child to speak.

Jiraiya cocked his eyebrow. "Shikaku already answered—"

"No, _here_," Eri emphasized.

"Good question, Eri," Orochimaru nodded, probably to spite Jiraiya than out of genuine appraisal. "Knowing how sensitive the information shared today is, it certainly would've been better for us to meet in one of the conference rooms within the Administration building. But your parents have the house wrapped up in so many privacy seals— much more than any of the other rooms, really— that it was of most prominent decision was to stay within these walls."

"Ah," Eri mumbled in understanding. Her parents tended to be a bit more paranoid than the typical shinobi.

Jiraiya rested his hands on his hips. "Well! That's that. Your parents are paranoid freaks, almost as much as they are awesome shinobi."

"We are not paranoid, sensei," Minato smiled (in his innocent smile that made Eri shudder). "Simply cautious."

Jiraiya snorted, but Orochimaru raised his hand before the Toad Sannin could say anything. "Cautiousness is a trait that is of great importance to shinobi." He passed Eri onto Kushina. "I hope you two— especially you, Uzumaki— will keep that in mind during your missions. There are too many unknown factors in this war, and it's not boding well for Konoha." He grimaced. "I have more to experiment with, and more to discover. Jiraiya, you also have a mountain load of work to do. We'll take our leave now. Time is of essence."

With that, Orochimaru headed for the door, dragging along his teammate with him.

"But— Minato, be careful! You too, Kushina!" The man yelped as Orochimaru closed the door behind them.

The house was eerily silent without the bustling noise of shuffled paper, or the boisterous laughter of the other men. Kushina slumped down on the couch with Eri, who landed on her mother's lap with an _oomph_. Her father soon followed, settling in beside his wife and daughter. They stayed that way, finally in the comfort of one another's presence and finding no need for any superficial soothing words.

Eri held her mother and father close. She inhaled their smell, and tried to imprint it into her memory. When her father last left for a month, it felt like a year. And from Shikaku's presentation, it was obvious her parents' missions would last far longer than that. How long would she be alone? How long would she stare at the same moon at this time of night, wondering if they were safe?

Would they even be safe?

Her parents' auras did nothing to comfort her. They were nervous too— about themselves, and about each other. They swirled, a bundle of restless nerves, appeased by nothing. They knew Konoha was not in any advantage in this war, and how dangerous their roles were.

Often, their auras would flicker in a way that resembled the enthusiastic, passionate bursts of a campfire. They would flicker wildly in arbitrary directions, the inner, core of their chakra feeding them with vibrant energy. They vibrated with an intensity not unlike the green aura around herself, and quivered whenever her parents spoke of Konoha. Her parents were proud to be shinobi from Konoha, to fight for its beliefs and its people. As worried as they were, the two did not regret risking their lives for the village.

In an interesting way, Eri supposed, it was like their will of fire. Something that justified their sacrifices for Konoha, something that eased their fear and nerves. It was entrancing, but fearful simultaneously.

That night, the three slept together on one bed. It was the strange way that they always used to comfort themselves. Her parents liked to pretend they were strong, physically and mentally, and sometimes, they were so good at acting that Eri forgot they were 20 years old (younger than when she'd died. A strange thought). Twenty year olds were not supposed to wonder if they'd be able to kill enough opposing soldiers to survive and see their daughter.

Eri clenched her fists at the thought, ignoring the sleep that slowly crept up on her. Her parents would not die. They could not. She knew it; the anime dictated that they live so Naruto could be born. But then again, she was not mentioned in the anime. She did not know how her existence had influenced the anime.

The pits of her stomach clenched, and Eri's breath hitched into an irregular pattern. Why was she born into the Narutoverse? Why was she born under this couple? Why couldn't she have just been born an orphan so her parents could survive the war? (It was Eri's fault if either of them died.)

Her mother rolled onto her other side to face Eri, interrupting her thought process. She crawled deeper into her mother's embrace, appreciating the smell of citrus. Then she caught a whiff of seawater that she hadn't noticed before, an imprint of a place Eri was not familiar with.

There was much about her parents that Eri didn't know about, now that she thought about it, and she began to regret never having asked them about their past. She didn't know if she had any grandparents, aunts, or uncles. She didn't know about her family's history or background. She figured her parents would tell her in time, and thought that their silence was just a clear sign that she not ask them until they were ready to teach her.

But if her parents did die, and Eri was left alone in this world, she would have no knowledge about them left with her. She would only know what had been shown in the anime, general knowledge about them that any respectable shinobi could gather in a few days.

Could she really say she knew her parents? Or was she just an intruder in the two's lives, someone masquerading as their daughter?

Eri bit back the sob that tried to climb up her throat. She didn't deserve to have such loving parents. She took them for granted, and wasn't thankful enough for them. She was selfish, and so absorbed in her own life that she neglected to familiarize herself with her parents'. Yes, she'd wanted to save her parents even before that night, but somehow, her desire and efforts had been very superficial. Read books? Talk intelligently? How was that supposed to save the two from a mad, ancient Uchiha, who had the power to kill her using just his pinky (or even less)?

She promised to herself she would make everything right, as soon as they came back home. She would learn more about them and their past. And she would shower them with love and appreciation. So for now, she allowed herself to drown in the deep sea of unconsciousness.

* * *

_The earth rumbles as the sky splits open with a loud, ominous screech. She flinches, but follows her group formation, tramping on, forward, forward, deeper into the enemy's lair. The air is pungent with the smell of death, dust filtering the scene around her. Harsh wind blows and strikes the team, only stagnated by the surrounding buildings of dirt. Thankfully, the ground is hard and dry, but with the clouds gathering menacingly, she know they will have to trudge through mud soon. _

_Hut, two, hut, three. Onwards, men! Chant within your mind the mantra. Pain is good. Pain is necessary. Pain is a friend. Pain is a reminder that you are alive._

_Two fingers up, elbows bent. Stop. Like a well-oiled machine, the entire team freezes, tense and ready. Her finger slides down to her gun's trigger, her shoulders flexed. She can kill, she is ready, shit, bring them all on._

_The fingers goes down, and her captain's jerk is all the team needed to start clambering on again. Their big, thick boots against the hard ground, steady but strangely silent. She is always silent, the most silent out of all of them._

_The ambush takes them by surprise. She groans, oh hell, oh hell. _

_This is hell._

_The child's eye is wide with fear, his face caked in dirt and blood not unlike hers. He wears no armor, he is bare, open, open and vulnerable, ready to be killed. Another prey, another pawn. He dies as soon as he enters the team's field of vision. He is only twelve, she thinks, only twelve. Her little sister is twelve. Or is she eight? Why can't she remember?_

_There is a scream that rings out loudly, shaking the walls around everyone. A bomb? A bomb, a bomb, oh shit, get down, get down! Cover, get to cover. Get your fucking ass out of there, Dresden!_

_She jumps down onto the ground, covering her head. How ironical it is that she lands right before the boy, her eyes locked onto his. As if she is belittling him for being so inexperienced, for dying while she lives. She is no choice, she moans. Here, next to the boy, is the best place for cover, look, over there, the ceiling has collapsed and is dead dead._

_The voice calls out for her, so she clambers onto her feet, and joins her team again. It is missing one member, but nobody says anything because they've noticed the new dog tag, dangling from their captain's fist. They focus only on their goal, because they haven't killed their target yet. One more step, one more move. Let's go, let's go._

_Onwards, men._

She woke quietly, a blistering headache pounding at her skull. She noticed the damp sheets around her, but made no move to escape from their grip. She waited for the pain in her head to disappear, and only then noticed how hard she was clenching her teeth. She eased her stiffness in her jaw, and the pain disappeared with it.

She had a bad dream. A terrifying dream. But she couldn't remember what it was about for the life of her. In the background, she could hear faint _tut-tuts_. It was a familiar sound, but she would hesitate to call it comforting.

"Eri?" A familiar voice called out. The man seemed to approach the bed, hesitant.

She continued to breathe in, then out. Eri. Namikaze Eri. Yes, that was her. She was Namikaze Eri.

"Minato," a voice called from far away. "It's getting kind of late. You should wake her up, 'ttebane."

Namikaze Minato was her father.

"She's awake, Kushina," Minato said back. "I'll be downstairs in a minute."

Uzumaki Kushina was her mother.

"Eri," Minato's voice was closer now, and more gentle. "It was just a dream."

Yes. Yes, she was Namikaze Eri, daughter of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. She was safe. She was in her parent's room. She was in the Namikaze household, in Konoha. And her parents were going off to war.

Eri's eyes snapped open at the thought, and she did not flinch from the unforgiving light that entered the room. The yellow ceiling had a strange pattern, she now noticed. Perhaps she would paint over it later, once she grew taller and her parents returned from the war.

A cold hand slowly rested against Eri's forehead, and Eri glanced at Minato. He gave her a blinding smile. "I'm here. You're safe. Don't worry."

"But you're leaving," Eri wanted to say. Instead, she held out her arms, allowing her father to pull her into a soft embrace. She gripped onto him, her small, pink fingers turning pale. Then, she let go.

Thirty minutes later, the Namikaze-Uzumaki family stood by the walls of Konoha. Amongst the crowd were Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza and their wives; Mikoto; Jiraiya; and Minato's team. Orochimaru had not come.

It was strange to see her mother and the other shinobi in their fighting gear. Her mother's usually loose flaming red hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, with her forehead covered by her hitaite. She wore the standard Konoha jounin jacket, along with baggy black pants tightened with bandages. Eri found her mother beautiful, in a fearsome sort of way.

Eri was used to seeing her father in his blue (ugly, in her opinion) sweater and jounin jacket. He was the one who was most frequently off on missions, after all.

Eri had been surprised to hear her father's team was not following him on his mission. But in a way, it made sense, she supposed. They were just barely acquainted with her father's _Hiraishin_; it would be illogical to take them on a mission in which the technique was imperative. They would be a burden in this tag mission (tag mission: dropping in and out of bases quickly, as though one were playing a game of tag; she didn't remember how she knew that fact). Apparently, Minato's team was being sent out on less dangerous missions, focusing mainly on helping civilians whose homes had been destroyed in Fire Country, and replenishing the supplies of Konoha shinobi teams.

It was unusual for a Konoha team to be left without their sensei for long, and Eri hoped that sentiment was applicable even during war time. That way, her father would be home faster.

"I suppose we should head off now," Minato said with that fake smile of his. Eri watched him without saying anything.

Before her mother could pass her off to Mikoto, Eri pushed against Kushina's grips. Eri dropped onto her feet, and stood on her own, staring at her parents who watched with a great amount of affection.

"I love you," Eri said. "Be safe."

"I love you too, Eri," Minato bent down to kiss Eri on the forehead, followed by Kushina. "We'll be safe."

"Listen to Mikoto, okay?" Kushina smiled.

"Of course," Eri replied.

There were other pleasantries that were exchanged. But Eri paid them no heed, focusing solely on her parents. Her eyes outlined their physiques, the shape of their eyes, noses, and mouths. She memorized the sound of their laughter, and burned it into her memory. She didn't want them to go. But they would leave.

When her father took a step back towards the gate, Eri felt terror graze in her stomach. She wanted to ask them to not go, to stay in Konoha. Let other shinobi fight for them. Let others die for them. But she knew that would only make it harder on her parents, who were suffering enough already. So instead, Eri smiled.

"Bye bye, kaa-chan, tou-chan," she said as the group of shinobi finally passed through the gate. "Come home soon."

Five minutes after the group had left her field of vision, Eri still stood at the same spot as before. She was thankful that Mikoto allowed her to stay in silence, not inquiring about Eri's reasons.

When Eri heard the sound of life rising around her, she took in a deep breath, and released it. Then, she turned to Mikoto, who gave her a soft smile and took her hand, guiding them towards the Uchiha compound.

Eri was quiet the entire walk to Mikoto's household. She ignored the almost insulting way the sun began to climb up the sky. She blocked out all of the surrounding chatter of the ignorant children who ran along the block, whose parents did not have to go out to fight and protect this village. She ignored the curious stares of the Uchihas as she pressed on through the Uchiha compound.

It was only when she found a pair of two black eyes looking at her that she realized she was finally within the Uchiha household. In fact, she was in Itachi and her usual play room.

Eri stared back at Itachi, waiting for him to begin another's usual parade of "It's going to be OK" and "They're strong shinobi". (But those people didn't get it, not really; what the hell did it matter that her parents were strong shinobi? There were always, _always_ situations that strength alone could not help soldiers through).

Itachi said none of those things. Instead, he opened up his arms, embracing Eri, and murmured into her ears. "**It's OK to cry**."

Eri felt herself laugh hoarsely at the relief the child's words brought. But her tears came first, spilling from her eyes down onto Itachi's shoulder. She heard a sick moan emitting from her throat, a tortured cry of a deranged animal, and she clenched onto Itachi's shirt.

"It's OK," she heard a faint voice, and a gentle pair of hands on her back. "I'm here with you. **We're going to be OK**."

Eri didn't know how long she stayed that way, grasping onto Itachi's back as though he were her lifeline. But eventually, fatigue took over. Her body could not take the exhaustion from crying so intensely, and eventually bent under the pressure.

Eri collapsed into sleep, her unyielding arms bringing Itachi down with her. The two held onto each other, two people rightfully adults in all but their bodies. And that was how Uchiha Mikoto found them, three hours later.

* * *

It's a relatively short chapter, but I promise the next one will be much longer. Reviews and critical feedback are always welcomed!


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you everyone for your support, reviews, follows and favs! I appreciate it a lot. This chapter is extra long, just for you lot.

Huge thank you for winteralley, as always.

* * *

Life independent from her parents was interesting. It wasn't unbearable, as she once had thought it would be. But it wasn't the most comfortable experience either. The things she used to take for granted, things she never had to think twice about were now things she became increasingly concerned about. She became hypersensitive to the Uchiha around her, who only tolerated her because she was an "honored guest" of Mikoto and stayed silent to Eri's stay. Otherwise, she herself would have had to wash her own laundry, cook her own food, and set her bedding every night; instead, the Uchiha did those things for her, biting their sarcastic tongues in the presence of their leader.

She didn't mind their bitter attitude. She understood she was an inconvenience, and tried to limit the amount of work she made for the others. She folded her clothes as best as she could, so that the others wouldn't have to; she swept the room with her mini-broom when she could. Mikoto was kind enough to take care of her while her parents were gone, so Eri didn't want her to have to deal with petty things like her clan members' jealousy.

Itachi, being the kind little boy that he was, seemed to recognize this fact just as quickly as she did, and tried to make her feel as comfortable as possible within his home. From the first day of her stay, Itachi suggested that they share a bedroom, so that Eri would not have to sleep alone. Mikoto ignored Eri's protest (and the general horror expressed by the other Uchihas), and with a wide smile, organized Itachi's room so the two could lay side by side at night.

When it was day and not night, the two spent their times reading books that Kushina had left with Mikoto on fuuinjutsu and Uzushiogakure. The fuuinjutsu books were at a level low enough for a beginner to understand their content, and Itachi was more than happy to explain difficult vocabulary to Eri. The initial part of their first book, which took the longest time for both Eri and Itachi to translate into layman speak, was mostly about physical and spiritual chakra, and how the two worked together to create the chakra that shinobi manipulated to use jutsus and make fuuinjutsu.

The books on Uzushiogakure included rare photos of the place, and Eri would pause on each page of the photographs for hours, trying to understand what it would've been like for her mother to grow up in such places.

The most frequent pictures in the books were of the people of Uzushio. They were always laughing, their mischievous eyes twinkling in the sunlight. More often than not, there were children in the background, running to or from something, their expressions open with happiness. Though the pictures were in black and white, Eri could tell by the gradation from black to grey to white that most of the people at Uzushio had light colored hair and fair skin.

The second most frequent pictures were ones of the sea surrounding the island. Eri could imaginethat the blue water surrounding the island would sparkle a rippled pattern in the day and reflect an endless abyss at night. The boundless sea was beautiful.

Itachi sat silently beside her during these times; she didn't know what exactly he was thinking, but she knew he was curious enough to examine the pictures with an intensity similar to hers. She was glad he was there next to her. She wanted to share this experience with someone, this acknowledgement that _these people are a part of my family_; _look at their smiles, and hear their laughter; they were once alive._

Occasionally, the two played outside, but they didn't make it a common occurrence. Though the two never admitted it to each other, they both knew the reason they tried to stay inside. As the war continued, day by day, the number of people who lost people precious to them grew, and the mourners tended to be loud and their voices terrifying. The anguished cries of pain and loss were something Eri didn't really want to hear so early in the morning, something she didn't want Itachi to be exposed to (she herself was familiar with it in a disgustingly intimate way; she didn't want to be familiar with it, though, not at all). So the two tried to stay inside as much as possible, where the buildings had been built so cool air could enter the rooms in the hottest of days.

The two were always together, and there were never others who joined them, not even the clan children. Mikoto and Itachi never explained to her why this was so, and Eri knew better than to ask. She figured it was about some kind of clan politics. So she was left with just Itachi, and she didn't mind this fact so much, seeing as he was easy to get along with and made great company. Besides, there wasn't anyone else she could meet; everyone on her father's team was on mini-missions. Eri knew the overprotective Uchiha matriarch would assign a horde of Uchihas to the two of them, and that Orochimaru would be disgusted (and somewhat offended) to have a group of suspicious Uchihas roaming around him, just so Eri could hang out with the man. So Eri remained quiet and stayed with Itachi.

Eri supposed she shouldn't have been so surprised when Mikoto sat the two down in front of her, her face stoic and closed, a couple of weeks after Eri had first entered the household. She knew Mikoto had been nervous and concerned about something for awhile, her aura contracted and tense, vibrating with an anxious energy only seen in people with bad news. Eri stayed quiet, sitting in sieza beside Itachi, who was just as quiet.

"I have received a letter from Fugaku that addresses something important," Mikoto began, her eyes knitting together into a frown. "About your training."

As excited as Eri was about getting stronger, shecouldn't help but feel doubt bloom within her chest. She was only a year and a couple months old. Sure, she could now eat with a seal-less spoon, draw accurate circles on paper, and pick up small things with her finger; but she was not going to be able to throw senbon or gut people with a kunai with her limited strength.

Apparently, Eri's face tended to be as open as those of the Uzushio children. Mikoto laughed, before reassuming her stoic expression. "Physical training won't start until later. Both you and Itachi will start with chakra training starting from tomorrow. I'm hoping Itachi can start his physical training as soon as he turns three, and you join him once you reach the same age."

Eri pursed her lips as she glanced at her friend, who remained impassive (he'd become a lot more quiet than he had once been, and Eri guiltily wondered if it was because of her). She turned back to Mikoto. "OK."

Mikoto beamed, and cleared her voice before declaring, "You may enter now, Kagami-san."

Eri's eyes widened in surprise as the door to the patio slid open. She had not sensed anyone behind the door; physical objects blocked the aura of others from her view. But aside from her limited seeing abilities, she hadn't heard anyone approach the door, even after Mikoto had settled herself in front of the previously distracted children.

A short man with short, bouncy curls exited the room and entered the patio, closing the door behind him. While the man had the typical Uchiha dark eyes and hair, Eri was intrigued by the friendly smile that was pasted across the man's face. She'd never seen an Uchiha smile so brightly before; even Mikoto smiled in a controlled, refined way. This man smiled like someone from Uzushio.

Eri watched like a hawk as the man limped across the huge patio and sat down diagonally from Eri and Itachi. She eyed his injury on his left leg, which was bandaged up tightly. His face was also adorned with scars, obviously from exposure to intense battles. He didn't seem a day over twenty (Eri didn't know what to do with the uncomfortable notion that Uchihas were much more handsome when they smiled). A warm red aura wrapped itself around the man.

"Hello," he beamed. "My name is Uchiha Kagami. I will be the one teaching the two of you for the next couple of weeks." Eri glanced at Itachi, who remained calm. Her friend seemed to be OK with Kagami, so Eri relaxed.

"Nice to meet you," Itachi said. "My name is Uchiha Itachi. I am grateful to make of your acquaintance." He bowed, bending the top half of his body and coming up slowly.

Eri copied him with less grace. "I'm Namikaze Eri."

"I will be at the Clan Administrative building," Mikoto stood. "You three get to know each other."

"Yes, Mikoto-sama," Kagami bowed deeply as Mikoto left (Eri always forgot her pseudo-mother was an important person, and was only reminded when the other Uchiha showed their respect towards Mikoto). The man turned to Itachi and Eri. "You two are kind of quiet, ne?" He shifted to sit in a more comfortable position once the door shut behind Mikoto, while the two children remained in their sieza.

"So! What do you two know about chakra?" He asked.

Eri paused, wondering if she should really say everything she knew. She shared a look with Itachi, who gave a mini shrug. It didn't go unnoticed by Kagami.

"Alright, Itachi-kun, I'd like you to sit farther along the patio with your back towards us. Eri-kun, I'd like you to sit on the opposite side with your back towards us as well."

Eri's lips tightened into a thin line once she realized what her new sensei was trying to attempt, but complied anyway. Once Eri sat with her back to the others, Itachi and Kagami were both beyond the scope of her vision. While she could feel the warmth of their auras, she couldn't see exactly what Itachi was feeling.

Eri heard the man boom, "I'll just direct this question to Eri-kun. What do you know about chakra?"

Eri decided it wouldn't hurt to tell the man everything she'd learnt (because she needed to get stronger, she needed to get stronger fast). She figured it'd be fair to just quote word-for-word from the fuuinjutsu books Itachi and she had studied from. "Chakra is a vital energy source that is needed for people in general to survive, which is generated through our chakra coils. We shinobi manipulate and transform the chakra within and around us in order to act out defensive and offensive techniques, such as jutsus or fuuinjutsu.

"Chakra is created by two forms of energy-spiritual and physical. As their names imply, the two forms of energy require a shinobi to be healthy in their physical body as well as their spiritual self. The spiritual form can—"

"OK. That's enough," Kagami interrupted. There was an uncomfortable silence, and Eri squirmed, so unused to her back being bare and exposed (no, no, _Eri_ was used to her back being bare and exposed. Whomever she'd been _before_ wasn't used to having her back exposed). "Hm. That was definitely a lot more than I thought you would know. I'm going to take a wild guess and say Itachi-kun is just as familiar with chakra as you are. Who taught you all of that?"

Itachi answered, "Eri's okaa-san left us with many books regarding fuuinjutsu. The basics of the book explained chakra and its usage in depth."

"I see," Kagami murmured. "Do you two have any practice with chakra?"

"No," Eri said as Itachi answered, "yes."

"Perfect!" Eri could basically hear Kagami's beam in his voice. "Then I know how to proceed with our classes. You may return to your seats now."

When Eri got up and walked back, she made sure to sit extra close to Itachi, just to see how Kagami would react. The man gave a slight frown. But Eri saw that he was not uncomfortable because she was not an Uchiha while Itachi was the Uchiha heir.

"Eri-kun, Itachi-kun," he began. "You shouldn't be so dependent on each other."

Eri merely raised her eyebrow.

"It _is_ important for Konoha shinobi to be reliant on each other, especially their teammates," Kagami conceded. "But shinobi should initially have some form of independence so they can work on their own skills and talents. Then, when they do join a team, they can use the skills that they developed by themselves to contribute to the team's success. Right now, you two are too dependent on the other. If you keep that up, we're going to have classes separately."

Eri made sure to inch away from Itachi at that statement, and noticed him do the same.

"Good," Kagami's eyes disappeared as the man smiled again. "For the rest of my visit, and until Mikoto-sama's return, we will meditate."

Eri's lips twitched in irritation, but she pressed them into a thin line. This was all for the sake of becoming stronger, for her parents (whom she missed so dearly, when were they coming, it was so lonely at night). So Eri shut up, closed her eyes, and remained still, attempting to become one with nature and everyone around her.

Her efforts lasted for a whole five minutes, much to the amusement of Kagami.

* * *

Let it never be said that toddlers cannot be trained, especially in the field of chakra. Uchiha Kagami oddly reminded Eri of her own father, what with their deceiving innocent exterior and demon-like interior. Kagami was merciless, driving Eri and Itachi to their very limits every practice, which lasted hours per day. Honestly, Eri could see how Itachi was so advanced in the anime. One would have to be a complete idiot to not improve under Kagami's watch.

Every day, Eri was forced to run up and down the patio. It was hilarious, honestly speaking. It should not have been so hard for her, considering the patio itself was only about ten meters in length. But for her to run all the way to one end, then back to the other end was difficult beyond imagination. She sweated heavily, and her face flushed bloody red by the end of her five laps (but she also found it ridiculous that she was so tired, because she used to be able to run miles without losing her breath). Apparently, Kagami was unsatisfied with her initial level of stamina (despite her being one year and a couple of months old, she might add), because he always timed her runs and pushed her to run faster than her last record from the day before. And this was just _warm up_.

Once she was finished with warming up, she had to stretch in ways that she hadn't known werepossible until that point. Her arms jutted out left and right, her legs bent in directions that made her feel uncomfortable just from watching them dangle in the air. But the stretches did feel good, pulling muscles she didn't know she had.

Then, Eri had to do a variety of jumping jacks and lunges. She didn't have to do any push ups or sit ups, because Kagami followed a weird logic regarding what children of her age could and couldn't do. But still, Eri had to do multiple jumping jacks and lunges before she could take a break and get a drink of water.

After that, Eri had to sit in her stinky sweat and meditate for _two hours_. Yes, that was right; Uchiha Kagami forced a year and four months old Namikaze Eri to sit on her butt and meditate for two hours. Because Eri had the tendency to fall asleep whenever she closed her eyes, she had a hard time actually meditating. But she quickly lost that habit of hers when Kagami gleefully flicked her forehead every time he noticed her fall asleep. She could never figure out how he knew when she was just on the brink of losing consciousness, since it wasn't like her upper body swayed or she started snoring. And she swore the man didn't know the meaning of mercy, as every flick he gave her left dark bruises on her forehead.

After meditation, Kagami instructed Eri to feel her chakra, and push it to her palms. In theory, it sounded easy. But it was in actuality difficult beyond measure. Sensing chakra was not like second nature to her; it was not as natural as breathing or seeing or listening. It was like trying to see through the back of her head: an impossible feat.

Even after a week of Kagami's instruction, Eri still hadn't managed to push her chakra to her palms. But Kagami didn't say anything about how slow she was (or about how Itachi had apparently managed to complete it on his first try). Instead, he patiently gave her more tips. Sometimes, he zapped her with his own chakra to help her recognize the feeling. But Eri did not like it when he helped in the latter manner, because it felt like she was cheating.

During her own training, she got to witness Itachi train in the yard beside the patio. And Eri saw just how much of a genius Itachi was; there was absolutely no doubt about it. Itachi only had to learn a concept once to understand it completely. Things that required more practical experience, like chakra control, took a bit more time for him to master. But still, it took him significantly less time than an average shinobi child.

In fact, Itachi had already mastered sticking leavesand sticks onto himself. Eri could see that Kagami was hesitant to start the tree-walking exercise with Itachi (since that would take a significant more amount of chakra to complete), so hecontinued to assign heavier objects with rougher textures for Itachi to stick to his hand. And, as expected, Itachi did well, needing to only try once or twice to manage it. Nothing seemed to be challenging for him, and it was reflected in the bored way he finished a lesson.

In the end, the only thing keeping Itachi back from being the true master he was were his physical limitations. If he had more chakra, he would've been permitted to learn the tree-walking exercise and the water-walking exercise.

There was something ugly and dark that grew in the pits of her stomach when she saw how easily he achieved something.

One day, a few weeks into her training, she had stopped her own stretching to watch him attack piles of sticks to himself, his eyes dull with boredom. But when he caught her eye from across the yard, he tensed, his aura coiling tightly around himself defensively. The next stone that Itachi added to his arms dropped as soon as he laid it on his arm, and the boy stood in silence, watching her and her reaction.

After a while, in which even Kagami stayed silent and watched the two, Eri finally frowned. "Don't do that," she scolded.

When Itachi took a step back, his aura created a wall around his chest. Eri rolled her eyes. "Don't fail on purpose, Itachi. I'm not stupid." Then, after a long pause, she added, "And I need you to be strong. I need you to be as strong as you can be. You slacking off won't make you strong."

Itachi looked uncertain, and Eri watched in amusement as she recognized how nervous he was. "I'm not going to hate you just because you're so much better than me." She tapped her chin with her index finger in a familiar rhythm (of _hut-two hut-three_). "Well, I did feel jealous, I'll admit. But that's OK. Jealousy is OK. Hatred isn't."

She turned back to Kagami expectantly. "You should teach him how to tree-walk now. He's running out of things to stick to him, and you're only holding him back at this point."

With that, she returned to her stretches, avoiding the surprised gaze of the two Uchihas.

Yes, Eri was jealous. She wished she had Itachi's talent and penchant for picking things up immediately and mastering them. If she had Itachi's skills, she'd definitely be able to prevent her parents' death. And yet, here she was, incapable of even expanding her chakra from her coils to her palms.

But she didn't hate him. Itachi deserved whatever skill he acquired, because he put in a lot of effort to learn the techniques. He never slacked off. He never approached lessons half-heartedly, even if he got bored mid-way. (Plus, Eri had a feeling that Itachi was constantly expecting her to reject him just because she was jealous, and that really pissed her off; as if something so petty would destroy their friendship).

Kagami did teach Itachi how to tree-walk, but only after Itachi turned three years old. At this point, both Eri and Itachi had gotten used to Kagami's harsh training, which only increased in intensity as the days passed. Now, Eri ran more than twenty laps around the patio, and began sit ups and push ups.

Eri was also more conscious about Kagami, watching the way the man walked with the ease of a feline cat, a hunter of his own right. When he walked in the house or in the yard, he made no noise, no indication of his movement or trail of his walk. His posture was excellent, straight and balanced.

And Eri always was startled by the man's open and honest smile. As much as she liked to think his innocent smile was deceptive, there was a significant portion of it that was genuinely honest and sincere. She felt something clench whenever she saw that kind of openness, and she didn't know what to do about it.

On a separate note, Eri was pleased to see Itachi was challenged by the task of tree-walking. She knew he would need something to focus on, something to challenge him at least some point in his training.

Itachi would stare at a tree, with his palm against its thin bark, and stretch out his chakra to penetrate the tree. He would then attempt to stick to it in all forms and manners, and once he was successful, he tried to climb it. But he was always out of breath after a mere five minutes. Eri didn't blame him. A three year old had physical limitations that he couldn't just push past through mere will power, after all.

It was also around this time that Eri finally learned to expand chakra to points in her body.

The three were outside, since the weather had taken a turn for the better and warmed. The air was fresh with the smell of grass. A plate of sliced apples was off to the side, left untouched as both students were immersed in their training. Itachi was by the tree in the garden with Kagami, his hand placed against the bark of the tree, the one with the thickest and most rough bark amongst the many in the yard.

Eri was in a very content state. She'd received a letter from her kaa-chan earlier in the morning, so nothing could bring her down from her happiness (even Kagami's cruel training didn't faze her). When she thought of her parents, fighting for her, her heart clenched; but there was also something warm that spread in her stomach, a kind of pride.

It was then that she noticed something else that mingled inside her. She mentally imagined the energy as being a ball, as Kagami had instructed, and imagined the ball being elastic and soft. Once the warm ball was changed, Eri imagined it being stretched, like a string of melted cheese, from the center of her body, to her hand.

When she felt the warmth on the palm of her hands, Eri's eyes widened in shock and surprise. Her mouth gaped as she finally felt _something_ in her hands. When her eyes turned to Kagami and Itachi, she saw they, too, were proud of her achievement.

Itachi had the biggest smile out of the three of them.

Dinner never tasted so great before, and though Kagami scolded her for passing out from chakra exhaustion, Eri still continued to stretch her chakra from her solar plexus to different parts of her body. Only after Itachi warned her in a gentle voice about how chakra exhaustion could be fatal, did Eri finally recede her chakra back in, and allowed sleep to dominate over her.

Training resumed for the two.

Eri noticed how much more easily Kagami walked, and realized he was slowly healing. She didn't know how to feel about the fact that the man would leave the two once he was fully healed, so he could join the active forces on the battlefield. She didn't want him to leave, but couldn't bring herself to tell him to stay. He was a Konoha shinobi, she realized; he would rather die than to not work for the sake of the village.

But he was also her sensei, her very first sensei (despite what Orochimaru had said, he hadn't actually taught her anything). He also could read her like an open book, reassuring her when she thought she was failing in everything, and when she was worried about Itachi's development.

True to his word, Kagami only trained Itachi and Eri for a few months before leaving as soon as his injury was healed. His declaration to the two came unexpectedly.

Itachi stood by the pond in the yard, attempting to finally walk on water. Eri was off to the side, attempting to extend her chakra to somewhere beyond the limitations of her own skin. She held rocks and sticks near her, trying to stick them to herself.

"Eri, Itachi," Kagami called.

When Eri looked up, and saw how rigid his form was, she felt her heart accelerate in beating. She frowned, and dropped what she was doing to toddle over to Kagami. He gave her a brief, short smile that was so bittersweet Eri was taken back by it.

"As you know, my original duty was to train you two for several weeks," he began. "It has now been three months. And my fractured leg is fully healed. It is time for me to fulfill my duty as a proud shinobi of Konoha to return to the battlefield."

Eri felt herself shake, and her eyes swell with tears. Itachi slipped his hands into her own, and she clenched onto his tightly. "But… But why? Our training isn't over yet."

Kagami gave Eri a bright smile, and patted her head. "Sorry, Eri-chan. Konoha is not doing very well, and as someone who has a fully developed Sharingan, it's kind of imperative that I be on the front lines. The only reason I was excused to heal in Konoha is because my injury got really infected. And also because I'm Fugaku-san's cousin."

Eri shook her head. "But… But—"

Itachi bowed, tugging Eri down with him. "Thank you for everything, Kagami-sensei." He rose, dragging Eri up with him. "Please return home safely."

Eri clenched her teeth, unwilling to allow Kagami to leave (because not him, not him too; everyone was leaving and she'd be all alone).

Kagami inhaled deeply, and his exhale came in the form of a sigh. He entered the room and pulled out two boxes, handing one to each of them. "These are my farewell gifts. I made them myself."

With shaking hands, Eri opened the gift and marvelled at the smoothly cut wooden kunai. "Ah… Thank you." She looked up, clenching the boxes against her chest. "Thank you, Kagami-sensei."

And then he'd left the next day, without any further ado. Because that was what war was, something abrupt, something that took away those precious to you, something that forced you to be concerned about everyone you loved, wondering if they would live to return home. The two were left to practice only what they'd learned from him.

The days felt empty without the man— her sensei, as she had begun calling him. So Itachi and Eri continued as they always had with Kagami; she ran laps with Itachi, though Itachi ran double her distance in half her time; she stretched with Itachi; and Itachi walked across the pond in the yard as Eri focused on sticking stones and sticks to her body.

But it was different without an instructor, who hid behind a deceiving kind smile. They didn't know when they'd made a mistake, and relied on the other to point out simple things, like _Eri, you have to pile the stones on top of the other_, and _Itachi, your feet are a little submerged in the water. _The days became quieter, too, without the loud and cheerful voice of Kagami. And Eri did not know what to do with the fact that she now had one more person she was worried about, one more person she had nightmares for, who would get pierced in the back with a sword, or stabbed in the throat with a kunai in her dreams.

So Eri tried to distract herself from her worry by watching the things around her, as she was now. She knew Mikoto was getting worried that Eri was withdrawing into herself. It was understandable, after all; Eri talked less around Mikoto. But she was still as friendly as ever, if not more, with Itachi. And that was enough for Eri.

* * *

"Eri, come back inside. It's cold."

She stayed silent. It was not that cold, really. Though the air was a bit chilly, there was no wind to carry it, transform it into something more vicious. Besides, Eri was bundled up in a warm blanket, which kept the cold air away from her, and was seated on the patio, not completely in the garden. The warmth of the room behind her kept her cozy in the blanket. It was not cold.

She eyed one snowflake that fluttered, swinging left and right as it drifted from the sky. It collided with several others, then landed, slow and gentle, onto the frozen koi pond. A pile of snow had already collected along the border of the pond. Eri wondered how thick the layer of ice was. It was her first time seeing snow in Konoha (and apparently, snow itself was quite rare in Fire Country).

She heard Itachi's footsteps approach her, which she ignored, until he sat down beside her. When she glanced down, she saw he had placed a plate of dango between the two; long, wooden sticks penetrated several of the dango to keep them in place. She reached down and picked up a stick and ate, side-by-side with the silent Itachi.

Sitting on the balcony, when she saw how quickly her breath fogged up, Eri opened up the left side of her blanket. On cue, Itachi slid in, and Eri lowered the blanket over him. Now, Itachi would not be cold as well. The two were silent.

"Okaa-sama wants you to go inside soon," Itachi said first.

Eri gazed at the old fence across from her. They were bound together in two groups, with an Uchiha fan painted on every other group. To Eri, the amount of pride that the Uchihas exuded was so great, it was almost tangible.

"How about we clean the room up together?" Itachi asked.

Eri frowned. That was a low blow by Itachi. To be honest, it had been awhile since she'd last cleaned up her room. In fact, in the last couple of days, her clothes adorned the floor of her side of the room, and her mother's books were piled messily. But she still didn't want to get up, so she ignored Itachi for the umpteenth time that day, and continued to count the snowflakes falling in the garden.

Itachi did not sigh. He did not show signs of discontent. He merely snuggled in closer to Eri, and kept quiet with her. Eri found that she loved this part of him, which allowed her personal space and time when he really knew she needed it. Lately, he never forced anything onto her, no matter how much his mother tried to use him as a middle man. He would ask verbally, then seemingly give up. Then he would join her in her meditation, in her succumbing to the general silence around her.

The two children stiffened when they heard light, but fast, thumps down the hallway heading towards their room. When the door to the room slid open, Eri sighed, preparing herself for Mikoto's scolding. But instead of a cold, warning voice penetrating the room, something light landed on the top of her head, and when she looked up, she saw it was a small scroll.

Eri barely saw Mikoto's soft smile behind the scroll as she scrambled up to receive and open it. She lowered it so Itachi could read as well (she didn't mind if he knew what her parents wrote to her; she trusted him).

"My Eri," she read aloud, the tips of her mouth curling just a little at those words. "I'm sorry I'm writing so late. It has been almost a month since my last letter, hasn't it? From the way the clouds were moving, I'm guessing it is snowing in Konoha— look, Itachi, tou-chan knew!"

At Itachi's encouraging smile, Eri continued. "I can't tell you where I am now, nor what I'm doing, but I want you to know I always think of you. I saw a group of children the other day, and one even had the same name as you. I miss you a lot.

"I hope Mikoto-san hasn't been spoiling you. I'm sure you are listening to her and following directions. Have you been eating properly? I wonder how much you've grown in the last year, since the last time we saw each other was a little more than a year ago. How about you measure your new height, and tell me in your letter?

"I will write to you again when I have the time. For now, I have to get going. Your father, Minato."

Eri's smile faltered when she flipped the scroll over to find a blank page. When she looked up at Mikoto, her smile vanished completely, and she wordlessly folded the scroll into a little square, tucking it into her pocket.

"He didn't say when he would be returning," she mumbled.

Mikoto raised a hand as though to pat Eri's head, but Eri pushed past her into the room. It wasn't fair of her to treat Mikoto like this, she knew, but… She waited one month for either of her parents to reply to her, and _this_ was it? Was he really so busy that he couldn't write to her?

Then, Eri felt immense guilt tug at the bottom of her stomach. Of course he was busy. He was fighting off shinobi so she could be safe in the village. So Itachi and Mikoto and the other grumpy Uchiha and everyone else in the village could be safe.

With a deep breath, Eri turned around and beamed at Mikoto. "It's OK. I'm sure he'll be home soon." She turned to Itachi, her cheeks hurting from how hard she was pulling at them with her smile. "C'mon, Ita-kun. Let's clean up the room."

Mikoto and Itachi shared the same unconvinced look (and Eri would've laughed had she been in any other state of mind). But Itachi joined her in organizing her things, sweeping the floor, and resetting the books. Mikoto left, probably to tell the clan elders that "No, we cannot bring back just the Uchiha shinobi from the war" and "Yes, Itachi will be joining the academy later, but not now" and "Fugaku will return when the war has settled,"then regulate the clan spendings and observe the Uchiha markets and everything else that the other Uchiha were apparently too incompetent to do by themselves.

"It will end," Itachi said, twenty minutes into the quiet cleaning of their room and startling Eri.

Eri paused her dusting, and lowered her eyes. "I know."

* * *

_Screams._

_ Smoke rises in the far east of the city, and she watches as the building diagonal to her bursts outwards, surrounded by a wall of flames. People in ragged clothes, both civilians and soldiers, run aimlessly, trying to find a safe place in this warzone. The unfortunate ones have buildings collapse around them and boulders fall and break and shatter their legs; the fortunate ones slump down like rag dolls as her team shoots at them._

_ Shoot, shoot, shoot._

Allah, Allah. Praise Allah.

_ The first time she tries to stop her team from killing civilians, her captain uses the butt of his gun to hit her across her face. She flies onto the ground, her temples pounding and blood dripping down the side of her face and collecting in a puddle below her face. Her eyes spin, and the boots that appear in her vision are blurred._

_ "Your father would be disappointed in you," her captain says. "Get up."_

God save them all.

_ So the next time her team and she arrive at a little Afghan village, she wordlessly shoots everyone, from the grandparents to the parents to the sons and daughters. _

Eri wondered if Itachi ever regretted sharing a room with her. Because the day he decided to share his room was the his first day of many sleepless nights, always being woken up in the middle of the night by Namikaze Eri's nightmares. They had been rare in the beginning, and had only started when her parents had left. But they'd worsened over time, especially after Kagami-sensei had left for the war. Eri didn't know what to do about it, these horrifying, haunting dreams that she'd forget once she woke up.

So she stayed as quiet as she could, and bit her tongue when she awoke from her nightmares.

Somehow, Itachi woke up anyways, no matter how hard she tried to remain silent, and settled in next to her in her futon. He soothed her, his fingers running through her now-longer hair. Eri fell asleep with his short, stubby arms around her, every night.


	10. Chapter 10

Hellloh everyone. I apologize for the late chapter. This week and last week were incredibly hectic; I had a lot of exams that I needed to study for and take. Next week will be similar. I'll try to update asap, but I can't guarantee it'll be on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Also, please keep in mind that there's a limit to which Eri can see. A baby is not going to be allowed on the battlefield, or in important meetings, or be allowed to go into a hospital filled with dying people. That means a lot of character development will occur with or without Eri's presence. Please also note that Eri is currently living with a very well-off family, and so is unlikely to be exposed to the horrors that most civilians face at times of war.

I am still not sure as to whether I am going to follow the plotline in Itachi Shinden. I'm a bit hesitant to follow it, what with the debate on whether it even is a part of Canon or not. Plus, it'd be kind of boring to just repeat what happens. I guess we'll just wait and see.

A huge thank you to my beta winteralley, who found the time to edit this chapter despite being super busy with work!

* * *

When Eri turned two, Mikoto set up target posts for her in the Uchiha's backyard. Eri was quite touched. The Uchiha matriarch had "tainted" (as the other Uchiha put it) her own home for Eri's sake. There were other training compounds around in the village, but those were off-limits to anyone with a clearance level lower than a chuunin. With the posts in the house's backyard, Eri and Itachi could practice using the wooden kunai that Kagami-sensei had left for them.

Itachi painted a picture for her. In the picture, the two of them stood in the middle of a green meadow, one filled with pink lilacs and yellow daisies. They faced a large, dark forest before them, their backs to the audience. Eri could spy some birds in the background, flying in the clear, blue sky. A deep ocean encompassed the land to the children's right, sparkling and glistening under the morning sun. Eri was sure Itachi had imagined the entire scene, because Konoha had no such ocean surrounding it. When asked, Itachi merely shrugged and said, "Uzushio."

Itachi was a gifted painter, and Eri realized he would've been the next Leonardo Da Vinci had he been born elsewhere in another world. He excelled in everything he was exposed to, whether he learned it by himself or was taught by others. It seemed he was quick to understand the rules of the activities faster than any other child. He could manipulate factors of problems to come to conclusions, and stack toy blocks up in the most stable way. (Eri got silent satisfaction from the fact that he couldn't write a decent haiku; neither could she, but that wasn't her point).

But Eri could see herself improve too. She had nothing to do but read her mother's gifts repeatedly, so she eventually memorized all the content within the books. In fact, she could recite most of the lines in the books verbatim. Itachi and Eri never actually practiced any of the fuuinjutsu taught in the books, though, because they didn't have anyone to teach them. The theory, on the other hand, the two understood in and out.

A few days after Eri's birthday, Mikoto gave her permission to leave the Uchiha compound on one condition: the person supervising Eri had to check in with Mikoto, and let her know when Eri would be brought back home. Mikoto was allowing a great concession, giving permission to a stranger to enter the compound and approach her ward and her child. In turn, Eri promised she would make contact with and follow whomever she desired only after Mikoto's permission.

And that was how Orochimaru ended up standing in the lobby of the Uchiha compound, his slitted eyes curious but cautious. Though his body was relaxed and stance without anxiety, he was uncomfortable, being surrounded by a group of (famously) hostile shinobi. But he held his poker face well. The only reason Eri knew the truth was because she had the unfair advantage of being able to see his aura.

"Orocchin!" Eri grinned as she ran up to him and hugged his leg. "I missed you a lot!" It'd been more than a year since the last time she'd seen him. His yellow, glowering eyes were a delight to see again.

She felt cold hands reach under her arm and pull her up into a firm hold. "You've grown quite tall, child. I _am_ glad to see your speaking skills have improved significantly, seeing as you now speak in full sentences." She reached out to lay a hand on Orochimaru's cheek, her eyes roaming over his features (would he also go out to war, like her parents?).

"Orochimaru-sama," Itachi's voice rang from behind her. "It is nice to meet you. I thank you for your time and efforts to look after us."

"It seems at least one child in the room is familiar with proper greeting etiquette. But no need to be too concerned. I would not be here were I someone who found things like this to be bothersome," Orochimaru said as he lowered Eri back onto her feet.

"No, Itachi is right, Orochimaru-sama," Mikoto called out as well. "I am also very thankful that you are willing to look after the two, even if it's just for a while."

Eri watched Orochimaru subtly shift his weight from one leg to the other, and stifled a laugh. He was clearly not used to the genuine, kind tone that the two Uchihas were affecting. "I… It's of no real concern." He glanced at Eri. "Are the two of you prepared to leave the compound?"

Eri nodded, and patted her backpack strap. "Yes."

Itachi walked over to the entrance of his house, and put on his shoes. He turned to his mother, and bowed. "Okaa-san, we will be back soon."

Orochimaru laid a hand on the top of Eri's head. "Mikoto-san, I'll be sure to bring the two children back before the sun sets completely."

Eri reached over to clutch at the fabric of the man's kimono, and bowed to Mikoto. "Thank you, Mikoto-san, for letting us leave. We will be back home soon."

Mikoto smiled at the two, and Eri watched her aura relax. "No worries. Be safe, and don't trouble Orochimaru-sama too much."

"Yes," Eri and Itachi answered.

The trio left the compound, trailing after Orochimaru, whose steps were long in length. He did not slow down for the two, and resumed his normal speed. Eri was grateful; she found Mikoto's babying of her and Itachi to be suffocating, which had intensified especially after Kagami-sensei had left. Having someone expect her to reach a standard and excel, was cathartic for Eri, even if it was something as simple as walking fast.

Surprisingly, the trio did not head towards Konoha general hospital, straying away from the main path. When Orochimaru caught Eri's confused look, he answered with a masked expression, "The hospital is overflowing with injured shinobi. My office was moved to make more space for the patients, since their recovery is more important than research at the present moment."

Orochimaru led the group towards a building near the Administration center, and climbed up the stairs to the second floor. Eri clambered into the second to last room in the hallway after the Sannin and Itachi. Once in Orochimaru's office, she laid her bag on the first couch she saw. The room was bright, with several windows lined along the wall.

Orochimaru's new office was not unlike the one before, albeit a little smaller. It was filled with rows of long tables, covered with test tubes and experiments. His desk was crammed into the corner (in the safest part of the room, Eri noticed). And as usual, his desk was organized and set without a single piece of paper out of place. There were two sets of couches that were turned to face one another in the left corner of the room. Eri didn't understand why Orochimaru bothered to make space for visitors, seeing as he was such an antisocial bastard, but was grateful for the space anyhow.

Itachi too scanned the room, his eyes lingering on the test tubes with such blatant curiosity that Eri laughed. The two turned to Orochimaru, who had discarded his long jacket on the couch and was shuffling through the reports on his paper.

"I don't know what exactly you were expecting," he began. "But know that I cannot spare the time to entertain you two the entire time today. I'm quite sure I've found the answer through the experiments I've done so far, but I will still be busy and silent for most of today's visit."

"That's OK," Eri conceded, then pointed to the bookshelves on the opposite side of the room. "Can we read those?"

Orochimaru cocked his eyebrows. "You may, but _can_ you?"

Eri headed towards the bookshelves, tugging Itachi with her. "I think it should be OK, since we finished all the books kaa-san left for us on fuuinjutsu and Uzushiogakure."

Orochimaru turned to look at them, as though he were seeing them in a new light. "_All_ the books from Kushina? Well, I have to say, that is quite impressive for children your age. In that case, the books there should be appropriate for the two of you."

Eri nudged Itachi, encouraging him to choose the one that interested him. She scanned the bookshelf, looking for anything interesting to read. She paused when she found _How to Raise Your Child to Be the Best Shinobi_ and _Understanding Your Child_, both of which were apparently the top best sellers at Konoha's main bookstore. Eri moved on, figuring it was just another one of Orochimaru's quirks, and settled for _Fuuinjutsu: the Art of Chakra._ When she turned to see what Itachi had chosen, she wasn't surprised to see he had landed on a book not unlike hers. They grinned at each other, before returning to their seats on the couch.

The three remained that way, with Orochimaru inspecting his vials and rapidly jotting observations down on his notepad, and Eri and Itachi silently reading their books.

It appeared Eri's mother was right (unsurprisingly). Fuuinjutsu served as both a command center and a map for chakra to follow, without constant assistance from the creator. It was like a computer program that forced a jutsu to be carried out in precise times with a specified amount of power. Every word written on a seal was important, crucial to the success of the seal.

Two hours later (of Eri asking Itachi the meaning of difficult kanji), Orochimaru let out a relieved sigh, and dropped his notepad on the table. "Finally, I understand."

Eri glanced at Orochimaru, and vaguely noticed Itachi close his book from the corner of her eye. "Did you solve it?"

"Yes," the tips of Orochimaru's smile curled, arrogance clouding his expression. "It took much longer than I expected, but I have reached the final conclusion. The genes injected into the children soldiers actually had similar patterns within their DNA. Initially, I thought this was because whatever Iwa had injected into the soldiers was created through the same mold of primary patterns. I was off by a tiny mark: the genes are actually from the people of the same clan."

Eri snorted at the 'tiny', but otherwise kept her opinions to herself when Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.

"As I was saying before you interrupted me in such an indignified manner, the genes injected into child soldiers are actually from a clan of people. Originally, I'd thought the children had mutated in their ways because they were not cultivated to actively host the genes that were injected within them. In one way, I was right; because the children were _not_ from the clan that I discovered, they did not have the right DNA code within themselves to control the distortions created within their body.

But the distortions that do occur in the _clan_ members are because of an entirely separate reason: they have the innate ability to absorb natural energy from their surroundings. This spurs on their clan abilities, which is to distort their physical appearance in whichever manner they desire through the internal secretion of a very complex fluid. The only problem with this is that the clan members themselves also lack the necessary DNA component to control the influx of natural energy, and the way the incoming natural energy influences their chakra coils. As a result, their levels of testosterone increase dramatically, forcing the clan members— and the soldiers with injected DNA— to become aggressive to the point of insanity," Orochimaru declared.

Eri nodded slowly. "That makes sense."

"So everything is already encoded within the clan members' genes?" Itachi asked.

"Precisely, Itachi-kun," a smug grin spread across Orochimaru's lips. "And I know how to reverse the effect."

"Eh?" Eri frowned. "Already?"

"Of course, child. Who do you think I am?" He scoffed.

"The one and only Great Snake Sannin and renowned genius, Orochimaru-sama, of course," Eri made sure sarcasm dripped from every word she said. She allowed herself a smile when she noticed Itachi was giggling.

"I would never introduce myself in such a gaudy manner," Orochimaru's auras recoiled in horror. "What a Jiraiya-like introduction."

"Pre_cise_ly." She paused, digesting what Orochimaru had told her. "So, how are you going to reverse the effects?"

Orochimaru gave her a predatory grin. "By using fuuinjutsu of course." His smile faltered a little. "It sounds easy theoretically speaking, but I'd have to isolate the genes of the clansmen, and then force the reversal of the natural energy absorption process. I have the first part of the steps down, since I already made the relevant seal with your mother. But I'd have to create a new seal from scratch to meet the requirements of the latter half."

"Sounds tough," Eri winced, imagining the amount of work necessary to complete the seal. "But… Natural energy, ne…"

"What is it?" Orochimaru asked, stacking up his notes and settling them on his desk.

Eri paused, wondering if she should inform Orochimaru about the auras. Then again, it wasn't like she'd always have someone like Orochimaru at her disposal to help her understand the auras.

"The truth is," she began. "I see things."

Orochimaru merely raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the wall.

"Like, say, how people are feeling. It's a very strange experience— "

"Namikaze," Orochimaru interrupted. "Repeat the first phrase."

"... I… can see how people are feeling?"

The Snake Sannin strode over to her. He ignored how Itachi tensed.

"Yes, that— how can you see other people's emotions?" Orochimaru picked Eri up. "Is this a Namikaze or an Uzumaki kekkei genkai?" He flipped her over, examining her back. "But the Namikaze family members were typically civilians, most of whom were killed in the first Shinobi War. The Uzumaki _have_ been known to be extremely sensitive to chakra, which helped with their manipulation of chakra and advanced fuuinjutsu; but _seeing_ other people's emotions is something entirely different, like a dojutsu—"

Eri figured enough was enough when he reached for her legs to hold her upside down. "Orocchin!" she yelled. "Stop. Let me down."

Eri watched in amusement as Orochimaru's aura tensed, and solidified heavily. He gently laid her back down on the couch, and looked away, unwilling to meet her eyes. "I— that was not— "

"It's OK," Eri rolled her eyes. "I understand. Me seeing people's emotions is really cool." She tried to meet Orochimaru's eyes. "I'll let you examine me properly if you want, with blood tests and all that, if you want."

Orochimaru let out a sigh that Eri hadn't realized he'd been holding. "You really can see people's emotions." He finally looked her in the eye. "Can you not turn it off? How is it controlled?"

"It's like a mist that surrounds people," Eri explained. "You and Itachi have green auras. A little different from normal, but pretty nonetheless."

"Different from normal?" Orochimaru questioned.

"No, no, not _normal_ normal. Like… trees! And grass. And butterflies. _That_ kind of normal," Eri corrected.

"So you mean _nature_," Orochimaru fixed.

"Yeah. Nature is green too, but more… dense. Thick, in a way? It doesn't move around a lot like other people's auras do," Eri stared at the man's aura as it twisted and curled like a curious snake. "All auras move and shake and vibrate when the people are feeling something."

"If you can see the 'aura' of nature, then it probably doesn't mean it's directly related to emotions," Orochimaru frowned. "In fact, it sounds more like you're capable of seeing the people's spiritual chakra and the natural energy of your environment."

She turned to glance at Itachi. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense. But the auras don't move when people use jutsus or do fuuinjutsu."

"That's probably because you're only seeing half of the full chakra that people use when doing those things; remember, both the physical and spiritual parts of chakra are needed for people to use jutsus. Now, you said mine, Itachi-kun's, and nature's colors are green. Does that mean other people have different colors?"

Eri tapped her chin. "Kaa-chan is pink and red, tou-chan is blue… Jiji is brown, Mikoto-san is blue, Fu-kun is a little purple. Bakashi is white, Rin is green— like you— and Obito is red."

"Is there a pattern or reason to people's colors?" the Snake Sannin inquired, leaning against the wall behind him.

"Calm people are blue," Eri admitted. "People full of energy or anger are red. People who are secretive are white. People's colors are always mixed." She looked straight into her friend's eyes. "The nicest and most _human_ people... are green."

"Human," Orochimaru repeated, before clearing his voice and laughing. "That doesn't—"

"Stop being such a tsundere," Eri rolled her eyes. "The aura never lies."

"Never is an absolute term that you should hesitate to use when applied to concepts and theories," Orochimaru scolded. "Though this revelation does explain a lot, including your extremely creepy ability to react with great sensitivity to the emotions of others. I'm not quite sure from which side of the family you'd inherit this ability from, though your mother is the more likely candidate, seeing as your father is insensitive to the emotions and desires of others."

"Why do you hate him so much?" Eri shot, and ignored the gentle hand that Itachi laid on her back.

Orochimaru's lips twisted, and he snarled. "He's the reason I'm stuck here in Konoha." Eri gave him a that-doesn't-explain-anything face (one that she often used on Itachi). He inhaled, then released his shaky breath (he was surprisingly good at calming his raging emotions, Eri noted with surprise, watching his violent aura stifle with just his one breath).

"With Tsunade off the front lines and Jiraiya constantly away from Konoha, I had to join other teams to fight on the front-lines, or for intel-gathering. But it seems my _comrades_—" he spat out the last word "- didn't feel the need to protect my back as I protected theirs. I have literally been stabbed in the back by enemy nin more than seven times now, despite having my pseudo-teammates be on the lookout. I've had to crawl back to watch towers or comrade campsites because no one came back to check on me more than just once."

He took a breath to collect himself. "But I was used to that," he admitted. "Not everyone is as welcoming to me as you and your strange mother are. I've… That's why I've always been with Jiraiya and Tsunade. But when I happened to be on the same team as your father, he saw how the others were treating me, and became enraged. He told Jiraiya and Tsunade _and_ Sarutobi-sensei." His lips pressed into a tight line. "From then onwards, I've been forced to stay in Konoha, where I'll be _safe_. One of the Sannin, cowering in his village because of his own _comrades_ are threats to his life. How pathetic."

Eri opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words she wanted to say. Sure, she'd known the Konoha population was generally afraid of Orochimaru (and her mother), but she hadn't known it was to this extent. "I don't think it's pathetic that you have to stay here. I want you alive, not dead, after all. Besides, we became friends because you stayed back." She flashed him a grin. "I'd say that's enough to make up for not being out on the battlefield. Though my tou-chan _was_ kind of an ass to force you to stay."

Orochimaru's aura relaxed slightly. "It's not your father who's forcing me to stay, but Sarutobi-sensei. I'd never be forced by your father to do anything, in truth."

Eri rolled her eyes at his arrogance. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Orochimaru-sama," Itachi called out. "I apologize for changing the topic, but regarding the seal that you mentioned… Are you going to make it yourself?"

"Of course," Orochimaru huffed. "Though it won't be an easy feat, especially with all of Konoha's fuuinjutsu masters away. Nonetheless, I should be able to make at least a prototype and tweak it a bit so that it will only need a little modification by the others to be completed."

Eri and Itachi shared an awed look. They knew from the books that they'd read just how difficult Orochimaru's job would be; the man was making it seem a lot easier than it actually would be.

"And… you are done with your current research, yes?" Itachi continued.

Orochimaru crossed his arms. "Get to the point, child."

"If you do have time and are willing, would you mind teaching Eri and me more about fuuinjutsu?" He asked. Eri blinked, staring at Itachi in surprise. It was quite unusual of him to reach out for help first; it was typically offered _to_ him _by_ eager teachers.

Orochimaru hmm-ed and haw-ed, and was about to say something until Eri interrupted, "Yeah! You promised you would be my sensei, ne? It's just we didn't have the chance, ne? Neee?"

"I remember the promise," Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "In fact, it was exactly what I was going to mention until you interrupted me so rudely. I will be fine with that, but would the Uchiha clan be OK with their heir receiving education from someone outside the clan?"

Itachi hesitated, before bowing. "I, Uchiha Itachi and heir to the Uchiha clan, would be honored to receive training from you, Orochimaru-sama." He rose. "I'm sure my parents would feel the same."

Orochimaru looked from Itachi to Eri, and took reluctant steps towards them. "Hmph. All right. Then I suppose I could teach you a bit of fuuinjutsu on the side while I finish up my report. What do you two know so far?"

"We understand chakra is made up of two components, and that they work together so that jutsus and fuuinjutsu can function. The theory of fuuinjutsu, we're also familiar with," Itachi answered.

Orochimaru cocked his eyebrow. "Oh? How familiar?"

"Relatively familiar," Eri grinned. "Fuuinjutsu is using written words or symbols to guide chakra to move in a specified way similar to that of hand signs, so that an effect can take place according to what the creator wanted."

"That's a good simplified version," Orochimaru nodded. He laid his hand on his chin. "But you two have no practical experience with it, no?"

Both Eri and Itachi shook their heads. The Snake Sannin sighed. "Can you two even hold up a brush? I remember Eri—"

"That was a _year_ ago," she flushed, and laid a hand on her hips. "I can do it now!"

"Of course," his voice as dry as the Suna desert, Orochimaru rummaged around several of his drawers. "Seeing as you two are familiar with the theory of fuuinjutsu, I'm sure you are well aware of what is most important when creating stable, strong seals, yes?"

Eri and Itachi exchanged glances.

"Perfect chakra control?" Itachi offered.

"Creativity?" Eri supplied.

When Orochimaru turned back to them, both children blushed at his amused expression. The Snake Sannin placed stacks of blank paper, two brushes, and two ink plates on the coffee table.

"Calligraphy," Orochimaru snickered.

Eri groaned. "But—"

"Calligraphy is most important to fuuinjutsu," Orochimaru interrupted. "Just as the sequence and shape of hand seals are important to performing jutsus. The thickness of the lines, the shape and placing of kanji on the seal-all are unbearably important things. Balance, equality: the two most fundamental parts of the theory of fuuinjutsu. Can you tell me why?"

"Allowing chakra to run through seals requires really strong boundaries?" Itachi guessed.

Eri didn't need to inspect Orochimaru's aura to see he was genuinely surprised. "Yes. Balance and neutrality are strict in nature; to be bound by it means to have no path of escape. In the case of a fuuinjutsu master, that is a good thing."

Eri and Itachi nodded along as Orochimaru continued, "So you can see how calligraphy will ultimately act as the physical form of balance and neutrality. The ink, mixed with the fuuinjutsu master's blood, will allow the master's chakra to flow through the seal more easily and in a more controlled manner; this is why complicated seals must be created by the user herself. Simple seals that require just a tiny bit of chakra-like explosion seals-don't need such special care. The thickness of the brush strokes determines how much chakra will flow; the words written dictate in which direction and for what purpose the chakra will flow through the seal; and the length, the content, and the organization of the seals-all determined by the seals' calligraphy-dictate the effects of the seal."

The Snake Sannin laid the ink platter and brush before the two children. "And that is why for the next couple of weeks, you will be training in the art of calligraphy."

Eri and Itachi turned to look at each other, both faces painted with grief. (Perhaps running laps wasn't so bad after all).


	11. Chapter 11

Here is the 11th chapter! I will admit I'm posting a lot earlier than usual because I don't think I can upload it on Tues/Wed. And also because I still feel sorry about the fact that I was super late with the 10th chapter.

To everyone who reviewed, thank you thank you. There were some really important points that you guys mentioned, and I made sure to keep those things in mind (though some of your concerns would've been resolved if you'd waited just a teeeeeny bit).

As per usual, my brilliant beta winteralley checked things over and edited out some really embarrassing mistakes, hahaha.

* * *

_The screen flickers with light, the black frame of the monitor emphasizing the brightness. The whirling of the desktop fills the room, drowning out her excited breath. A new window on the screen pops open, and the plane of the program is black, save for a few scattered orange dots. There is a little timer with green numbers at the bottom right of the program's corner. _

_ She reaches out hesitantly, and when her small, chubby fingers touches the cold screen, she inhales sharply. _

_ "I… made this?" She asks. _

_ "Yeah," her uncle laughs. "You did it. Now, go on and try it."_

_ She uses the mouse to click on the orange dots, which disappear once clicked upon. When she has clicked all twenty dots, the plane of the screen returns to its original black canvas, before a blaring message appears, declaring 'YOU WON.'. The game is simple: click on the orange dots and return the screen to its black state before the time runs out. And even though it is simple, with simple rules, she feels immense pride at her creation._

_ "I made it," she repeats. "This is mine."_

_ Her uncle's hand is big and warm when it sits on the top of her head. His voice is fond. "That's right. I am very proud of you."_

It was the first dream that Eri remembered after she woke up from her sleep. It was also the first dream that she woke up from without a scream climbing halfway up her throat. Instead of fear and self-hatred, it left her with a feeling of comfort and love.

This scared her more than any of her previous memories had.

The remnants of love after she had woken up left her sick with loneliness. Tears replaced the fondness in her heart, and she wanted her kaa-chan and tou-chan to come home _now_. But they were not with her, and were on the battlefield, fighting, clawing, screaming their way to survival.

So Eri just reached for the closest source of warmth, and once again succumbed to sleep in the arms of her best friend, Uchiha Itachi.

The tip of the brush dragged on down the page, stopping briefly before flicking up to the left. It returned to the page, pressed hard against the surface of the white sheet, pulling in a line from slightly above back into the straight line, then flicking out downwards to the left. It was lifted, and left a similar mark on the right of the straight line, only flipped onto the other side.

"Good," an effeminate voice approved. "Now, in gyoushou form."

Eri lifted her brush, and painted the same kanji for 'corruption' from before. Only, this time, the lines were slightly more cursive. She allowed the brush to briefly remain on the surface of the page as she dragged it across, creating a line that connected her previous points to her new lines. But she made sure the foundation of the kanji remained most clear, as random stray lines would change the meaning of the kanji completely.

"Your line here," a pale finger pointed at her brushstroke on the left, "is too thick. Repeat it."

Biting her lower lip, Eri dipped (just the tip of) her brush into the ink palette, and repeated the kanji for 'corruption' in gyoushou form. She was careful to not press the brush against the surface too hard when drawing the left flick. She looked up from her paper, and allowed a ghost of a smile to dance across her face. Orochimaru was leaning over Itachi's shoulder, his eyebrows pressed together, was murmuring comments on how Itachi could improve. The boy, in turn, listened eagerly, nodding along. The two turned to look at her simultaneously, and something warm blossomed in Eri's heart when she watched their auras react fondly to the sight of her.

"Done!" Eri smiled.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes as he strolled over, and inspected her kanji. "Much better. Now, write it in soushou form."

Eri drenched just the mere tip of her brush ink ink, and began to draw the strokes of 'corruption' again. Her brush never left the paper, allowing the kanji to take a more fluid and cursive form. When she was finished, even she had a hard time relating her product to its real kanji.

The Snake Sannin clucked his tongue. "It's not perfect, but it'll do. Now, I want you to move on to 'flood.'"

Eri suppressed her groan, and reached for a new piece of paper. But just as she was about to coat her brush with ink again, the door to Orochimaru's office swung open. Eri's eyes widened as the Sandaime walked in, his head held high and expression endlessly amused.

"Sensei," Orochimaru bowed, showing a rare form of respect. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

The Hokage gave him a soft smile. "Now, now, Orochimaru. Since when have I needed a special reason to visit my own student?"

"Since you became the Hokage," Orochimaru's voice held no venom, but Eri saw the very brief and well-hidden flicker of anger and hurt in his aura. She reached over and grasped onto his hand, giving it a small squeeze before letting go.

It was clear the Hokage was blind to Orochimaru's internal insecurities, as the man took Orochimaru's words with no serious concern. Instead, Sarutobi chuckled. "That is true. But when I heard one of my favorite students was acting as a sensei himself for two little geniuses, I knew I just had to come take a look."

Eri felt her face flush at his compliment. "Orocchin is a good teacher."

The corners of the Hokage's eyes creased. "I'm sure you have your own merits too, Eri-chan. This student of mine would never teach people he doesn't deem to be smart."

Orochimaru sniffed. "For a damn good reason, too. It would simply be unreasonable and a waste of my precious time to teach a child who wouldn't understand my lessons."

The Hokage glanced at the silent (and awestruck) Itachi. "Has he been kind to you?"

Itachi nodded his head rapidly. "Orochimaru-sama is very good at teaching. He is very patient, and knows exactly where and when I made a mistake, and how I should fix it." Itachi paused before adding, "He's a much better teacher than most of the people over at my clan."

Now, it was Orochimaru's turn to blush, but only just ever so slightly that the skin across his cheeks seemed to be blemished. The Hokage released a loud, boisterous laugh, and patted Itachi's head. "That is good to hear, especially with what I'm about to offer him."

Orochimaru crossed his arms across his chest. "Oh? So there _was_ a specific reason why you bothered to visit me."

The Sandaime gave Orochimaru a sheepish smile. "I wouldn't use the word _bothered_. I am never _bothered_ to visit my students, after all. Though I do admit that I don't-and apologize for-not visiting often enough. But yes, there is a specific reason as to why I came. Orochimaru… How would you like to have your own team?"

Eri gaped, and her` eyes flickered to Orochimaru in expectation.

"I refuse," he said flatly.

Sarutobi frowned. "Why not? You are a great teacher, as evident from what these children are saying. You are also an effective teacher—"

"That is because these two have the skills and talent to keep up with my lessons," Orochimaru said dismissively. "As I have previously stated, I have no intention of wasting my time on—"

"But your students will be very smart," the Hokage insisted. "They were ecstatic to hear they might be trained by the great Snake Sannin."

"Well, it is too bad for them, I suppose, that I already have two students, and that I am very busy at the current moment," Orochimaru deflected. "I have to complete the seal against the Iwa soldiers for the sake of Konoha, after all."

The Hokage's lips pressed tightly, and he opened his mouth as though to continue his rant. Eri noticed a faint mist cloud the area behind the Sandaime very briefly, before an ANBU member popped up behind the Sandaime.

"Hokage-sama," a low voice said. "A messenger from the Daimyo is awaiting you in the hall."

Sarutobi sighed, his eyebrows knitted together, and his face seemed to age once more. "Very well. I will head to my office this moment." He glanced at Orochimaru. "But please, give it some more thought, Orochimaru. I know you'll be a great teacher. I will visit again, when I can." With that, the Sandaime left.

Orochimaru clenched his fists in a tight grip, before relaxing them and returning to Eri. "Now, as I was saying, finish writing the kanji 'flood' in—"

"You're done with your research, aren't you," Eri accused.

"Yes, I—"

"And you finished your seal days ago. In fact, it's being used on the battlefield against the Iwa soldiers this very moment," Itachi added.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Uchiha, it seems Namikaze hasn't been a good influence on you. Your social skills seem to have deteriorated—"

"Stop changing the subject," Eri interjected. "Is it because of us?"

"Is _what_ because of y—"

"Are you refusing the job offer because we're taking up all of your time?" Itachi clarified.

Orochimaru used his index and thumb to press hard against the bridge of his nose. Silence filled the room, an oppressive atmosphere encompassing the air among them.

"I think," he said slowly. "It is time for you two to return home."

"You didn't answer my question," Eri said dryly.

"The sun has long set," Orochimaru crossed his arms again. "Mikoto-san would be worried that the two of you aren't home yet."

"In the few weeks that you've taught us, we've gone home much later than this," Eri noted.

"I didn't realize you were aspiring to become a politician, Namikaze, what with your amazing ability to annoy someone with your words," Orochimaru flashed Eri an unimpressed look. "If your sensei says you need to go home, then you must go home. Unless you need lessons on discipline again."

Eri suppressed the shiver that climbed up her spine at the thought. (After Orochimaru's lessons on discipline, Eri learned that Kagami's lessons were a walk in the park of mercy and kindness).

"We just want to know if we're a burden to you or not," Itachi said.

After a moment of silence, Orochimaru said in a soft tone, "You're not. Trust the Hokage when he says I am not the type to bother getting students for political purposes." He sighed. "The parents of my soon-to-be students always protest vehemently when they find out I'm going to be their children's teacher."

Itachi's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

Eri resisted the urge to smack herself in the face. As much of a genius as Itachi was, he lacked in the department of "understanding humans".

But Orochimaru took no offense, and instead ruffled Itachi's hair. "They fear me."

"Because they're stupid and superficial," Eri interjected angrily. "And insignificant and shallow."

Orochimaru snorted. "I suppose that sums it up nicely. But yes, their mistrust of me stems from their fear of my appearance."

Itachi stared at Orochimaru, his eyes roaming the Snake Sannin's features. "Why?" He asked again. "I don't understand."

Orochimaru blinked, and turned to Eri, who shrugged. "I… am not sure how to explain it to you, actually."

"But I don't understand," Itachi insisted. "You aren't scary or ugly or anything."

Orochimaru blinked again. "Ah… Yes, uh, thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?" Itachi pressed. "It's not something to be thankful for. It's just a statement."

"You're right," the tips of Orochimaru's lips curled. "I stand corrected."

Eri smiled at the scene, but gasped when she took a look at Itachi's paper. "What!"

"What is it?" Orochimaru asked.

"Why is he already on seal formation?" Eri cried. "While I'm still practicing kanji calligraphy?"

Orochimaru gave Eri a flat look. "Because Itachi-kun's kanji vocabulary is far superior to yours, and his calligraphy is nearly flawless."

Eri whined, "But I want to make seals too."

"She could learn along with me," Itachi added.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "I refuse to allow a student of mine to advance without having a firm grasp of the basics."

Eri pouted. "Fine." She added, "So you're going to think about it more, right? What the Hokage asked?"

Orochimaru sighed. "Since I have a feeling you two will continue to bother me about it, yes, I will take it into consideration." He glared at the two children. "But if even one parent of the children complains, I will never take a team under my wing again."

Ignoring Orochimaru's last angsty proclaim, Eri asked Itachi, "So how do you get better at knowing kanji?"

"I just know the ones I read in books," Itachi admitted. "I think they sold books with kanji and pictures in the Konoha bookstore."

"Then we should stop by while we head home," Eri decided, and turned to her paper. "OK! I'm going to finish this and more until Orocchin lets me advance!"

Itachi too turned to his paper, and resumed to organize kanji into a balanced form across the seal (whatever that meant). Orochimaru roamed over the two's shoulders, correcting mistakes and making important criticisms when appropriate.

That night, Itachi and Eri had to visit three places to find a book on advanced kanji. The war had interrupted everyone's business; no one had the money to buy books when they were busy trying to save money for their next meal, or sending extra weapons to their loved ones on the battlefield. (But Eri and Itachi didn't mention this, didn't even bring it up in their conversation).

Eri made it another one of her goals to master all joyo kanji. So in the morning, the two would go through their physical training, and in the afternoon, be picked up by Orochimaru and head to his office, where they studied the art of fuuinjutsu. Both Eri and Itachi rarely saw Mikoto, who was constantly in meetings with demanding elders and unreasonable clansmen. Letters for the two children were rare, if there were any; Fugaku apparently only saw fit to write to Mikoto, and that was to instruct her on how to lead the clan; Minato wrote one-sentence letters; and Kushina saw fit to just send her seals for the two children to study.

Surprisingly, as time passed, Eri became used to their absence.

Because Itachi was there, helping her return to sleep at night, reminding her to eat her vegetables, encouraging her through her training. He was her brother, and she his sister. They were siblings, separated only by blood.

She couldn't have asked for a better brother.

_"Father," she freezes, her fingers held mid-air right before the off button on her desktop. His eyes skim over the screen._

_ "Was it Jeffrey?" He asks._

_ She wants to lie and protect her uncle, but she answers him with a brief "yes, sir", and finds herself in the posture that her father has instilled in her: straight back, hands held behind her back, and feet shoulder width wide. _

_ "Get to the gym," he orders. "You're already late. Your brother is waiting for you."_

_ With that, he pulls out his phone and leaves her room. She wordlessly changes into a tanktop and shorts, and steps out of her room into the hallway. She walks through a fog down the stairs into the basement, and towards the ring. Her hands shake violently, and the sinking feeling in her stomach does not go away. _

_ Her brother has his back towards her, and from the way his arms are moving, it is clear he is tying his fists with bandages. Kick boxing today, then. She heads to her own corner at the right of the room, and after sliding into her running shoes, wraps her fists with bandages as well. It takes a while, because her hands are shaking harder than ever before. Once she's ready, she climbs onto the ring. Her brother's piercing blue eyes gaze into hers as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. _

_ "Father is very upset at you," he says casually._

_ She does not answer him, and puts her mouthguard in. She resumes the standard stance. Her left fist is raised to eye level, kept away from her face ever so slightly. Her right fist is held at her chin level. She stares at her brother through the gap created between her two fists. After a pause, her brother mirrors her stance. _

_ "Three rounds, each lasting three minutes," he instructs._

_ With that, she slides forward, faking left, before ducking under his jab. She twists behind him, but before she can land a punch on him, he has already turned around and is aiming a right uppercut at her. She jerks back, lifting her arms to shield her. But that was what her brother was aiming for all along: his right arm drops limp beside him as his right knee shoots up and lands right on her left stomach. _

_ She flinches, because her brother's knee jab is not something to take lightly. She grasps onto his leg, under his knee, and tries to trip him onto his back. He falter slightly, but he uses her hold as a balance to try to land a left hook. She's forced to shuffle backwards, releasing his leg. _

_ Her brother doesn't wait for her to raise her guard as he shoots a right jab. She ducks, pops up to his left, and twists her hips to land a roundhouse kick on him. But he slithers past her leg, clambers towards her in that impossibly fast way of his, and lands a left jab right at her face. She twists her face just slightly enough that his punch lands on her cheek and not her nose, but the pain is all the same. _

_ She lets out a small 'unph' and lifts her arms in defense in case her brother tries to land another punch on her. She lowers her guard slightly to block his left kick, and throws her left arm up for an uppercut. _

_ Her brother jerks his head back, and hops back with one leg. Both lower their guards immediately, the internal clock their father has programmed in them letting both of them know that three minutes is up._

_ "One minute break," her brother instructs, and heads towards his corner._

_ She returns to her own place, and wipes her face with a towel. When she takes a sip of water, she recognizes the familiar taste of bitter iron in her mouth. Her brother's punch must have knocked her gums hard enough for them to start bleeding. She has to make sure she retaliates properly._

_ But two rounds later, she sits in her chair in the corner, her breath heavy and body bruised and bloody. Her left eye has swollen up so much that she can't see out of it. Her left leg keeps shaking violently, and she's pretty sure she's fractured her right rib. Her brother, on the other hand, merely sports a small bruise on his thigh from a lucky kick that she managed to get in during the last round._

_ "Father has ordered you to run ten miles by 1300. Then, you must head over to the Uncle Tom's shooting range for more training." Her brother clambers out of the ring. "Your control over assault rifles is atrocious."_

_ "I've been a bit busy," she tries to say, but the words sound jumbled with all the blood in her mouth._

_ Her brother turns to give her an unimpressed look. "Algebra should not be taking so much of your time." _

_ She watches in silence, wiping blood off her chin, as her brother puts on his shirt and pants and belt and combat boots. His shirt and tank top remain dry; he did not break a sweat in their little workout. When he sees that she is not standing up, he turns and narrows his eyes._

_ "Hustle," he orders, and reaches for his knife attached to his belt. _

_ By pure instinct, she notices herself follow his orders as she stands and climbs out of the ring to her brother. Without a word, he slashes the skin above her swollen eye, and blood gushes out rapidly. She grits her teeth in surprise, and almost misses the towel her brother throws at her. She holds the towel over the area that is gushing out blood, and stares at her brother, who returns his blade into its sheath and heads out of the gym._

_ She is left alone, standing in the cold, brightly lit gym. She tries hard not to hate him, his perfection, his superiority._

_ Because he is the only brother she has._

After several weeks of mastering the various calligraphy forms, Eri was elated when Orochimaru allowed her to learn seal formatting. She had to memorize some basic ways to organize the foundational kanji, which would apparently help the additional, advanced kanji force her chakra to work in a certain way. Eri squirmed in her seat, her chubby fingers gripping her brush hard. Itachi was working hard at mastering the basic formatting that he'd been taught, already having gone through all of the foundation of seals.

"Now, this is the first basic form," Orochimaru showed her seemingly random symbols that created a circle in the middle of the paper. "After this, you can add on several other kanji to specify what exactly you want the seal to do." With this, he added on the kanji for 'left' and 'right' painted beside another with just a slight amount of space in the middle of the circle.

Eri watched as Orochimaru added on several different kanji, including the five elements, onto the paper. There was something familiar about the structure, the system of being, that resonated with her. She frowned, watching the brush climb from one corner of the page to the other, the complexity of the seal increasing as time passed.

"Do you see how the 'water' kanji is used in the core of the seal, then is referred to in the outer regions?" Orochimaru pointed at 'water' kanji in the center, then at several others that were implanted on the four corners. "From the formatting, can you guess what this seal would be used for?"

Eri squinted. "The fuuinjutsu master's chakra is increasing the pressure in the air, and altering the temperature so the moisture will be condensed into water. Then, using the vast amount of accumulated water, the chakra creates a force of wind that pushes the water into a spiralling mass that originates from the center of the seal."

There was silence in the room. Even Itachi looked up from his own seal to give Eri a strange look.

"Yes," Orochimaru said slowly. "You got it right."

She ignored his questioning aura, and grasped at the edges of the paper, pulling it close to her face. "It's familiar, this seal."

"Oh," Orochimaru's aura relaxed. "I see, that makes sense. Did your parents teach you this seal?"

Before Eri could reply, there was a bold, single knock at Orochimaru's door. The Snake Sannin frowned, before bellowing, "You may enter!"

The door to Orochimaru's room opened slowly. Spiky, brown hair could be seen from the edge of the door, and harsh whispers were spoken behind the door. With a jerk, the brunet boy was pushed into the room, his dark blue yukata crumpled and dirty. He was followed by a familiar looking girl and a calm, stoic Hyuuga boy. The girl wore a sleeveless fishnet mesh shirt, and fishnet armbands that reached her elbows. She wore dark shorts, and knee-length black boots. The Hyuuga boy had light brown hair, which was tied into a ponytail, and wore a simple, grey yukata with dark, standard Konoha shoes.

"Hello!" the dark-haired girl chirped (Eri gaped by instinct; it was _chibi_ _Anko). _ "Nice 'ta meet you, sensei!"

The Hyuuga boy took a brief glance at the look, before asking, "Should we return at a later time?"

At the same time, the brunet boy yelped, "S-Sorry, s-sensei. It's all A-Anko's fault, I _told_ h-her we sh-should wait—"

She glanced at Orochimaru, whose expression was cool and calm; but his aura twitched with irritation.

"I assume you are the children I am supposed to train," he snapped.

"Yup!" Anko chirped. "I'm Anko. I'm goin' to be your favorite student. This over here is Hideaki-obviously a Hyuuga-and the stuttering idiot there is Ishikawa Ryuu."

A snort escaped Eri's lips before she could slap her hand over her mouth. It was interesting to hear the typical brooding boy was 'shining excellence', while the stuttering child was named 'dragon spirit.' An interesting combination of names. Once she exchanged eye contact with Itachi, she knew she wasn't alone in her amusement.

"I see," Orochimaru drawled. He paused, giving them a once over, before declaring, "You may all return home now. I do not want you as my students."

Fierce Dragon gaped. "B—But why?"

Orochimaru crossed his arms. "When Hokage-sama had described you lot, I'd gotten the impression you all would be… more intelligent and sophisticated. Now that I see that this is not the case, I refuse to waste my time to teach you. Now, go on. Shoo. I have more important things to do."

"Like teach those brats?" Anko growled, pointing at Eri then Itachi. "They're _babies!_ You'd have a much better time—"

"These _babies_ are Namikaze Eri and Uchiha Itachi; the female is the child of the Yellow Flash and Uzumaki Kushina, while the male is the heir to the Uchiha clan," Orochimaru interrupted. "And both have far more potential as students than all of you combined."

"Orochimaru-sama," Hideaki said, his low voice rather subdued for a Hyuuga. "If I may be permitted to speak, I'd like to explain that though we speak brashly, we are not unskilled. The three of us graduated at the top of our grade-with the exception of Anko, who is lacking in… test taking skills-but all of us are fairly skilled in taijutsu and ninjutsu." The child bowed. "Please give us a chance."

Eri blinked. It was quite rare for a Hyuuga to willingly bow his head and ask for aid, what with their infamous pride. Eri poked Orochimaru's side, and smiled, "Orocchi-Oro-sensei, you promised you'd think about it and give them a chance." Itachi nodded along with her.

Orochimaru glanced at the children, who stood with their back straights eagerly, and sighed. "That is, very unfortunately, true. Fine. You three, head out to Training Compound Four. I want to see your skill set before confirming my decision." With that, the three fresh genin beamed (with the exception of the Hyuuga), and rushed out of the room.

The Snake Sannin turned to Eri and Itachi, his eyes narrowed. "I want you two to continue practicing the basics. Itachi-kun, teach Eri the other forms while I'm gone. I shall be right back."

Eri laughed as she watched Orochimaru's defeated aura disappear behind the door. "He's such a tsundere."

Itachi laughed along with her. "But we shouldn't tease him too much."

Eri shrugged. "We should tease people as much as we can while we still can."

"Why do you say that?" Itachi cocked his eyebrow.

"Because we're children, and children can get away with nearly everything," Eri deadpanned, and returned to her calligraphy. "Ne, ne, Ita-kun, what's the next basic form?"

Itachi jushed against his chair, and clambered into the one next to her. "You understand that all basics are based on the idea of balance, right? So since you already did the first form with the circle with left and right, the next basic form would be an upside down triangle with 'up and down'."

With that, Eri gently mimicked the strange shapes to form a triangle, and wrote the kanji for 'up' at the center of the page, followed by 'down'.

"Geh," Eri winced. "It's all botched up." She reached out for a new piece of paper, and turned to Itachi, who gave her a strange look. "Hey, it's normal for a beginner to botch up, OK?" Eri blushed furiously at her mistake.

"Hn," Itachi lowered his eyes. "Ne, Eri, why don't you try with your left hand?"

Eri blinked. "Try what?"

"Try writing the kanji with your left hand," Itachi noted.

Eri lifted her brush to her left hand, and repeated the second basic form on the new piece of paper. To her surprise, the kanji was far more organized and clean. There were no stray lines that escaped the intended path (It was no wonder her kanji was always so messy. How could she have forgotten? She'd always been left handed). She glanced at Itachi, whose exterior unperturbed expression did not match his violent aura.

Ignoring her gaze, he continued, "But for this one, Orochimaru-sensei's example from before doesn't work. Do you…" he glanced at her, his aura suspicious. "Do you know why?"

She pondered on it for a while, before answering, "Isn't it because when you do the last bit, forcing the water to turn into a spiralling force, you need forces to go left and right, and not necessarily up and down? And also, because left and right forces can make the particles in the air vibrate faster to increase the pressure in air-What?"

"...Can you explain why the basic form is an upside down triangle this time?" Itachi stared at Eri's calligraphy.

"Isn't it because it's setting the seal up for an effect that'll go against gravity? The structuring of the foundation is set so that the 'up' will take the brunt of the force. Also, the terms 'up' and 'down' are already defined in the triangle seal, so that it can be referred to later on and be commanded."

Itachi's eyes bore into her own, his aura coiling with curiosity much like Orochimaru's frequently did. "How did you know that?"

"How did I know what?" she frowned.

"How did you know that you need left and right forces to make a spiralling force, and that left and right forces can make air particles vibrate to increase air pressure?" he demanded. "And that 'defining' words means you can 'command' them later?"

"I…" Eri stopped (because she had learned it in another life; increasing velocity increases pressure in air; in programming, the terms must be defined before being used for a command—). "I… just did," she finished lamely.

Itachi stared at her. "**And when did you make up this language?**"

"**I didn't**," Eri replied instinctively, before clamping her mouth shut.

"**Then who did you learn it from?**" Itachi's eyes narrowed.

Eri bit her lips (this was not part of the plan; _this_ was not part of her plan. She didn't—)

"Namikaze Eri," Itachi frowned. "**Who are you?**"


	12. Chapter 12

I am allliiiiiiiive. I have survived the AP tests! Woohoo!

That being said, I apologize for having disappeared for so long. I'm back on track now, and writing as much as I can.

This chapter was full of soooo many mistakes in the beginning, it wasn't even funny. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that I kind of sucked from not practicing. This clean version is thanks to winteralley!

To answer the most popular question so far:

Yes, J 3:16 refers to a portion of the Christian bible. Why? Welllll... It'd be kind of boring if I told you why, hehe. Try to figure it out!

* * *

(I don't know what you're talking about

You're so funny

Silly child, making things up like that, what a spectacular imagination you have)

Her heart thudded in her chest, threatening, with every pump, death. Her vision blurred, and her senses drowned inher own heartbeat. Her cheeks flushed blood-red; her fingers quivered, the tremble climbing up from her fists up her wrists and to her head. A thin shrill could be heard from a distance, resonating in her ear. The world spun on a tilted axial, distorting her and everything around her violently. Tears sprang, abundant and hot and threatening to spill. Words gathered at the tip of her tongue but failed to leave her lips. It was unreasonable for her to cry from a simple question, but, similar to the moment of her birth, she couldn't stop the tears.

She would have laughed at Itachi's flustered reaction had she been in a different situation. But she couldn't. She was scared (that he would reject her, become disgusted that she disguised herself with the flesh of a fake identity, hate her).

"I'm sorry," the child faltered. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I just wanted to know."

And he was telling the truth. He was filled with the innocence of a child, curious more than suspicious. It was her own guilt, which she had buried deep within her, that riled her up so violently, boiling with anxiety, scratching, clawing its way deep into her heart. She'd always been afraid she would be rejected by those she loved because of the truth, though she'd never imagined it would be Itachi to whom it would first be revealed.

When Itachi leaned over to wipe the wet streaks from her cheeks, his hesitant fingers briefly lingering in the air, Eri looked up to face her ( brother, favorite, her—) friend. She didn't know how to go about explaining the truth (I died, I died then I was brought to life, but I'm _me_), because even she didn't know what had happened. But now, she wanted to tell him. She trusted him, this little child of barely three years of age, this child who comforted her in the dark of the night when her parents were absent (this child who would sacrifice everything for the ones he loved). She wanted to feel the catharsis of being bare and without any secrets, of being able to trust the people she loved unconditionally.

"**I… am twenty three**," she admitted, then cursed herself once she realized that answered no questions.

Itachi blinked several times, before nodding in a slow rhythm. "**Oh, OK. That makes sense**."

"**What**? That _makes sense_?" Eri's voice rose to a high pitch.

Itachi pushed back into his chair, his legs swinging in the open area below the seat. "Un."

Eri gave him the look she always saved for moments he made too big of a mental leap.

He chortled, "Sometimes, we are alike because we can come to conclusions with little facts. You're quick to see the relationship between seemingly unrelated things. Other kids don't get it like we do. But sometimes, you know all these concepts-like high pressure goes to low pressure-as though you've already learned it from someone else. You talk about things as if they are absolute, even though we didn't learn anything on the subject. And I know you haven't learned it from anyone, because I'm always with you."

"But…" Eri flailed her arms weakly. "You know things too, like how predisposed characteristics were already encoded within the clan members' genes!"

Itachi lowered his eyes, staring at something fascinating on the floor. "Um…" He scratched the back of his neck (a habit he picked up from Eri). "I lied."

Eri deadpanned. "You lied about the predisposed characteristics…?"

"No, no, that's not what I mean." He continued, "I guessed. I didn't actually know what you two were talking about."

Eri didn't know whether she should be depressed or impressed. She was disappointed in herself that she had never noticed her friend's insecurity regarding his gaps of knowledge, but…

"You expect me to believe you 'made up' your complex conclusion on the soldiers' traits being encoded within their DNA?" Eri narrowed her eyes.

Itachi shrugged half-heartedly. "I did it with context clues." Upon Eri's insistent glare, Itachi protested, "Orochimaru-sama talked about certain traits like aggressiveness appearing because the children were injected with DNA. He also talked about how things like 'testost-testoster_one_' and other stuff, which are a part of our DNA, will make people more aggressive."  
After a long pause of silence, Eri asked, "**So**?"  
Itachi's doe-like eyelashes fluttered. "**What do you mean** _**so**_? **It means that there's a direct relationship between something called **DNA **and traits**. **So I just guessed that the thing Orochimaru-sama was investigating was also related to **DNA."

Eri stared at her best friend. She knew he was a genius, but to be able to understand the direct relationship between things just through context clues was rather quite absurd. (But maybe this was what it meant to be a real genius, and not just some fake genius who was just a twenty three year old stuck in a toddler's body).

He continued, "I mean, when people talk, they talk in a certain order to make their argument. _Everyone_ does. So when Orochimaru-sama talked about child soldiers' genes being from a clan, and then about the changes in the people's body and the genes, and then about genes and DNA, I figured the two were related and just repeated what he'd said aloud."

So instead of knowing the human anatomy very well, Itachi used the syntax of Orochimaru's speech and assembled the facts together to formulate a response. Eri still couldn't grasp how it was possible for a child to manipulate his understanding of basic speech patterns to come to an accurate scientific conclusion.

"Well, then, why did you pretend?" Eri frowned. "We would've taught you if you didn't know what we were talking about."

The tips of Itachi's nose flushed red. "I've never…" He mumbled. "I've never not known things so much, compared to the people around me. And… And you two were having a good conversation, so I felt like I couldn't interrupt. Plus, I could read about what I didn't know later, too. So, I just guessed." He gave her a coy smile, his eyes vanishing. "It worked, didn't it?"

"But staying on topic." Itachi's aura coiled with child-like curiosity once more. "Does this mean you were sealed into the body?"  
"I… What?" Eri started.

"I mean, it's possible for abstract things like souls to be sealed in inanimate objects. Jinchuuriki and their bijuus are good examples," Itachi noted. "So was it the same for you?"

"What—no!" she shouted. "At… At least I don't think so." She paused, remembering her birth and shuddering. "Actually, no, I most certainly wasn't sealed into the body." Unless sealing a soul into an unborn fetus was possible, though she doubted her parents would've allowed such a thing even if it were.

"Oh," Itachi frowned, then shrugged. "OK."

Eri glanced at him, cautious and restrained. "You don't... You don't mind?"

Itachi's eyebrow arched into his hairline. "Eh? **Why would I?**" He continued to swing his legs back and forth, inclining forward on the couch. "You're still Eri. You're still my sister." He paused, before adding, "If that is alright with you."

(He was so polite and warm and)

"Of course," Eri sniffled, wiping her gross, dripping nose with her sleeves. "You don't have any more questions?"

"**What about this language?**" Itachi inquired.

"**I learned it before…**" Eri paused (what could she even call the process of her birth?). "**Before I became Namikaze Eri**. And I learned things like high pressure goes to low pressure before I became Namikaze Eri too."

"Ehh, I see. Other than that, I do have some more questions, but I'm assuming you don't know the answers either," Itachi admitted. "Or else you would've told me already."

(He trusted her to trust him)

"Of course," she confirmed with more confidence. She pursed her lips. "But to be honest, I don't care about the past. I'm me, now."

"Of course," Itachi echoed her, and gave her a cheeky grin. "Only _you _were worried about it."

"You're awfully chatty all of a sudden," Eri narrowed her eyes, ignoring how her left eye began to twitch. "You were so quiet and polite until recently."

Eri watched in mild fascination and horror as Itachi's aura stiffened and retracted into a densely packed box. Her arms snaked out and latch onto Itachi's hand, her eyes wide with shock. She didn't want him to hide from her.

A pause.

Itachi sighed, his aura relaxing just slightly. "Otou-san told me that I should... conduct myself appropriately, because I'm the clan heir," Itachi explained. "And that the Uchiha Clan would be judged based on my own actions. Apparently, he had heard rumors that I was acting too childish. So the first and last letter he sent me outlined which actions were appropriate and which were not as the clan heir."

(Yes, yes, it was true. He had started to change immediately after she began to stay with them.)

"You don't have to," she argued. "Because you _are_ a child."

Itachi shrugged. "My father isn't necessarily wrong."

"Then," Eri bit her lips. "Then-well-then, when you're with me, you should just be you. I won't judge your clan through what you do."

Itachi's dark brown eyes bore into her own, searching for something. It appeared he found it, as he gave a slight nod. "OK."

The genial atmosphere between them was unexpectedly broken when shards of the window to Eri's right and Itachi's left spontaneously burst into the room like fireworks. The two children turned to stare at the bundle of dark clothes squirming on the floor of Orochimaru's office. A head peeked out from the coat, large eyes glancing around the room nervously. Eri withdrew in semi-shock once she realized that Anko had thrown herself into the office through the window, because one did not just break the Snake Sannin's things without expecting some form of pain as reparation.

"Yo!" the child chirped as she straightened up, dusting her coat with swift palm strikes.

Orochimaru slid into the room gracefully, followed by Anko's teammates not long after. His eyes narrowed into thin slits. "What is the meaning of this?"

Anko gave Orochimaru a shit-eating grin as she put both fists on her waist. "You said that we should head to your office!"

"And your response was to _break through my window?_" The Snake Sannin seethed.

"Well, hehe," Anko's smile morphed into something more nervous than excited. "You _did_ say we should get there 'as fast as we could.'"

"St-stupid!" Ryuu shouted, pointing his shaking finger at Anko. "Y-You use _d-doors_ to get into offices. N-not windows!"

As the two children began to bicker (and Hideaki watched in mild annoyance), Orochimaru snapped back to Eri and Itachi, his shoulders tense and his fists clenched tightly. "I am _not_," he bit out, "going to train these animals."

Needless to say, a week later from that incident, Eri and Itachi could only visit Orochimaru once a week, as the Snake Sannin officially became the jouninteacher of Team Orochimaru.

* * *

_Her uncle's face is battered and bruised, much like her own. His eyes and lips are swollen to the size of a grapefruit, and his crooked nose shows obvious signs of having been broken. Dark navy and black bruises have begun to bloom on the left side of his face already, stemming from his hairline down to his cheekbones. She stares in terror and disgust. _

_ "But he is your brother," is what comes out of her mouth._

_ "As your brother is yours," is his comeback._

_ She jerks back, and turns, hiding her own bloodied face from her uncle. "We were training."_

_ "As were we," he sighs. _

_ She stares at the floor, her fingers gripping the edge of her shirt. "I'm sorry. I… I told him you had taught me how to code."_

_ "Your father was bound to find out anyway," her uncle chuckles. "It isn't the first time your father beat me up this bad."_

_ "But he is your brother," she swirls around and protests again._

_ Her uncle merely raises his right eyebrow and gives her an unimpressed look. "As your brother is yours." He stands up from his chair, and stretches, wincing only slightly once he reaches the top. _

"_Besides," he drawls as he walks with her out of the clinic. "We both know siblinghood isn't worth shit in our family."_

_She has no response to that, because her every step triggers a sharp pain to shoot down from her knee to her ankle, and her bruised rib to ache, all injuries having gifted to her by her brother._

"_So, how's your little program coming along?" her uncle prods instead._

_Immediately, the mood is better and jovial, as she argues that her program isn't little and that she's making a lot of progress but there's just this tiny problem in which her program won't actually run and her uncle is laughing and she gives him a cheeky smile and_

* * *

Eri admittedly felt an immense amount of guilt when she met Obito personally. Truth be told, she'd been so absorbed with physical and fuuinjutsu training that she'd neglected her other friends. If his pouting and crossed arms were anything to go by, it was obvious he was aware of her negligence as well.

"Sorry, Obito-kun," she tightened her grip over his torso. "I didn't _really_ forget."

"_Sure_," he huffed, before finally reaching over and hugging her. "I missed you, Eri-chan." He pulled back with a frown. "And… you can speak really well now, huh."

Eri held onto her fixed smile. "'Cause I'm _two_ and a half now."

"Oh," the frown vanished. "I guess that makes sense then…?" The child tugged at Eri's wrist, directing her out of the Uchiha household. "C'mon, let's go. I'm _hungry_!"

"But I need Mikoto-san's permission to leave," Eri protested.

"Rin's parents already told her about you leaving," Obito proclaimed.

Eri skittered on alongside her friend. "OK, OK, I'm coming." Quickly, she turned to the empty hallway, and shouted, "Ita-kun, I'll be back home soon!" The hallway remained silent, but she knew her friend was brooding in the room on the left.

Rin invited her teammates to a mini birthday party that was being held by her family. Shinobi families liked to have birthday parties whenever they could, because they never knew if they would reach the next year. It seemed Eri was also included in Rin's schema of 'team', because she found herself being forced out the door in the evening by a very loud and energetic Obito. And thus, she'd left the house with Obito, leaving behind a moody and disappointed Itachi (who would no doubt get back at her for abandoning him). The two finally exited the clan compound, and headed to the main market, which they had to pass in order to get to Rin's house. The blue-tinted sky and lack of light meant Eri had to hold onto Obito's hand to walk without falling (Eri found the empty and silent streets very eerie).

"Why couldn't Itachi come?" Eri complained. "I'm sure Rin wouldn't have minded."

Obito gave her a strange look. "Eh? You mean, you don't know about the Heir Rule?"

"The what?" Eri gave him a blank look.

"Clan heirs aren't allowed to interact with other clan members until they're five years old. Their parents can decide which outsiders the heir can meet, and for how long," Obito explained.

"What? Why?" Eri demanded.

"I think it was so the heirs can learn the clan's philosophy without getting influenced by other people," Obito shrugged. "I'm not too sure. I'm pretty sure this rule was made because clans always have more internal conflict than external, though no clan will admit to it."

"So you're not allowed to meet Itachi?" Eri demanded. She'd always thought she could make Obito and Itachi good friends to prevent the terrible things in the future. They were perfect for each other.

"I can see him," Obito explained. "I just can't be left alone with him for a long time."

Eri pursed her lips. "If you can see him, you should… You should try to be friends with Itachi."

Obito gave a nervous laugh. "I don't think Mikoto-sama would like that very much. I'm not… I'm not too well liked by the Clan."

Before Eri could say anything, Obito pointed at a beautiful and traditional house, and shouted, "It's there!"

The house was quite large for one family, though Eri supposed it had to be relatively big for a mini clan to fit in. Even in the dimmed light, Eri could see the beige paint was chipped and aged, signifying how long the house had survived through the years. There were two windows on the second floor, and only one on the first. Eri and Obito had to walk a little past the front garden (filled with herbs, Eri figured), to reach the front door, which was hidden on the side of the house.

Eri noticed Obito trembling nervously, so she pushed past him and knocked on the door for him. "Excuse me," she called out. "We're here for Rin's birthday party."

The door swung open, and a chubby little girl, a little older than Eri, stood to stare at her. Familiar purple streaks ran down the face of the child, and a brown nest of hair rested on the child's head. Her chocolate eyes twinkled with curiosity. For a second, Eri was impressed that such a young girl had opened the door, until she realized a tall man stood behind the toddler.

She bowed, dragging Obito down with her. "Hello. My name is Namikaze Eri, and this is Uchiha Obito."

"Welcome," the man smiled, gentle and warm. "My name is Nohara Akira. I'm Rin's uncle." He dragged the door open wider. "Please, come in."

As Eri and Obito trudged in and removed their shoes, the child continued to stare at them, her eyes following them, before she began to follow them around.

"How about you introduce yourself?" Akira chuckled as he laid a hand on the child's head. She blushed furiously, but before she could say anything, a clear voice called out, "Eri, Obito, over here!"

Eri struggled out of Obito's nervous grip, and ran over to the living room. "Rin!" She flung herself at her favorite angel, and grinned with Rin returned her embrace. "I missed you." When she glanced up and saw Kakashi standing in the corner with his arms crossed, she snorted. "Good to see you're still alive, Bakashi."

"The difference in greeting styles really tears at my heart," Kakashi drawled in monotone. "And looks like you've finally managed to form coherent sentences."

"Obito-kun," Rin called out in an obvious attempt to prevent the impending fight (such a sweetheart, Rin was). "Come into the living room. You too, Sumiko. Akira oji-san will be done with preparations soon, so he'd want us to wait in here anyway."

"I-um, of course, OK, I can do that," Obito murmured as he shuffled over and awkwardly sat on the couch and farthest from Rin.

The little girl from before also scrambled over past Obito, and next to Rin. She continued to stare at Eri with the ferocious innocence that Eri had long become accustomed to from Itachi.

"I'm Sumiko," a quiet voice finally declared. "I'm _four_ years old."

Eri gave her a polite smile. "I'm Eri and I'm two and a half now."

Sumiko said, "You need to call me Sumiko-nee then. And you should call Rin nee-chan like 'nee-chan' too."

Kakashi covered his snort quite well, but Eri wouldn't have missed it what with the way his aura shivered in childish glee. She quickly opened her mouth to respond with something cruel, but Obito interrupted her.

"Ne,Rinyourhouseisreallycleanandniceand—" Obito paused to inhale briefly. "Andthanksforinvitingmehere."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at Obito. His face became as purple as a tulip, and he glared at the floor.

"I think he was complimenting on how nice your house is," Eri attempted to save her friend. "And thanking you for inviting him."

"No worries, I caught his message," Rin giggled. "And thank you for coming, Obito."

Eri wondered if Obito's face would burst from excessive pressure, what with the way his face continued to redden.

"You're kinda weird," Sumiko laughed, pointing at Obito, then turned to Eri. "And your hair color is weird." The toddler tugged on Eri's hair. _Hard_.

Eri was so tempted to just strangle the two children-but they were just that: children. She, as the adult, had to calm down, and—

"Weird would be an understatement," Kakashi snorted.

Eri promised to herself that she wouldn't make a scene at her favorite person's home, not when she'd been invited so graciously by said person.

"Can I cut it?" Sumiko made scissor motions with her fingers.

Eri could hear her patience draining away with every passing second.

An hour and a half later, the group sat behind the dinner table in Rin's dining room. Empty plates decorated the table surface, smudges of sauce smeared on the dishes. For some magical reason, Kakashi had stayed throughout the entire dinner (and no, Eri didn't manage to see him without his mask-the bastard had managed to shove everything in his mouth while she'd been bickering with Sumiko). Obito continued to not so subtly stare at Rin, whose hair had grown longer over time, while said teammate gathered up the plates on the table. Eri strained to keep her smile pasted on her face, despite having an annoying little shit of a toddler rattle on beside her.

"Thank you for the lunch," Eri chirped as she pinched the inside of her thigh for the umpteenth time that day. "It was very delicious."

"But you left behind all the natto," Sumiko pointed out. "Was tou-chan's cooking that bad?"

Eri tightened her smile and lied, "I'm allergic to beans."

"But you ate the edamame," Sumiko argued.

"Peas and beans aren't the same," Eri's eye twitched.

Obito chuckled, his high pitch of his voice the only sign of his nervousness. "Uhh-I agree with Eri-chan! It was really delicious, Akira-san."

The said man watched in amusement, the tips of his lips curled. "No worries. I'm glad you managed to come over. The house is too quiet, so having people over was great."

At this, Eri gave Akira a sympathetic smile. She'd found through the well-veiled conversation between the family that Akira was the only adult left behind of the Nohara Clan. Rin's parents had died in the Second Shinobi War, and Sumiko's mother had died during childbirth. The other Nohara Clan members were MIA, or killed during the Second War. Akira, who'd been a pretty renowned iryou-nin, acknowledged even by Tsunade, had to retire to take care of the two children. Eri thought he was a very responsible person for someone who was only 26 years old.

"Rin, do you need—"

"Rin-_nee_," Sumiko insisted.

Eri grit her teeth. "Rin-_nee_chan, do you need help cleaning up?"

Rin smiled softly at Eri, before patting her hair as she passed by. "It's fine. I can do it myself."

"You'd probably drop and break the plates anyways," Sumiko added unnecessarily.

"We better leave now," Kakashi said briskly. "We don't want to impose on you any further."

Both Obito and Eri turned to give Kakashi a strange look, which was pointedly ignored by the child. Akira smiled. "You're not imposing on us at all." He glanced at the clock, and added, "But unfortunately, I think it's time for Eri-chan to return home. Uchiha-san was insistent that she return before 9, and it's already eight thirty."

"Yes, yes, so we'll be heading out now," Kakashi stood, ushering a confused Eri out of her seat.

Obito scrambled after the two. "Hey wait, _I_ have to take Eri home-Rin-chan! Thanks for having us over! I'll-I'll see you later!"

Eri had only a second to echo Obito's call before being pushed out the door by Kakashi, who began to drag the child towards the Uchiha compound.

"Oi," Eri called out. "Care to explain why you're dragging a two year old by her feet?"

Kakashi stopped abruptly, and spun on his heels to face Eri. His eyebrows were creased together, leaving a large and deep line between his brows. "You… Have you gotten any news from sensei?"

Having finally caught up with the group, Obito yelled, "Bakashi, you can't just drag Eri around like that! She's a _baby_."

"Pipe down, idiot," Kakashi hissed, before focusing on Eri again with his glare. "Well? Has he sent you any letters?"

Eri crossed her arms. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

Obito stepped in between Eri and Kakashi. "If you're done asking, I have to take Eri-chan home now."

"So you haven't," Kakashi leaned back, his feet tapping the ground impatiently.

"I _did_ get some letters from him!" Eri protested, pushing past Obito.

Kakashi looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Letters from months ago don't count. Even _I've_ got letters from him since then."

"How's it your business whether I get frequent letters from my tou-chan or not?" Eri countered.

"Ugh, there was no point in me staying throughout that dinner, if this was going to be the result," Kakashi grumbled to himself, ignoring Eri.

"Hey—"

"Because I'm stuck doing carrier jobs right now, when I should be out there in the live field, fighting alongside sensei and everyone else!" Kakashi snapped. "If it weren't for you, I would've been a jounin earlier and received solo jobs to complete. If you just hadn't been born, our team would've been an experienced team by now, and we would've been helping out in the frontlines."

With that, Hatake turned and vanished into the darkness, leaving behind a very confused Eri and a very guilty looking Obito. Eri slowly turned to Obito, who was shuffling backwards, his eyes pasted on the ground next to him.

"What," Eri began. "Does Kakashi mean by all that?"

"Well, it's not really your fault, Eri-chan," Obito laughed nervously, his hands up in defense. "No one on the team blames you." He paused, before adding, "Except Bakashi. But you shouldn't care about what he says, because—"

"Obito. _What does he mean by it's my fault_?"

* * *

Eri slammed the door to her and Itachi's room shut behind her, and threw her jacket on the floor, fuming. (It was all her fault. She fucked _everything up_.)

"Eri?" a familiar voice called out.

The comfort the voice drew out from her made her choke out in tears. "**Oh my god. Oh **_**God**_**."**

"_Two years ago, our team was supposed to go out on a scouting mission on February 10th," Obito admitted. "But we didn't go. Because that's the day when you were born, and Minato-sensei couldn't leave Kushina-san all by herself. It's understandable, I mean, you're his first born and all that."_

Small and chubby arms gathered Eri into a tight embrace. "What's wrong?"

"I messed everything up," Eri whispered. "I shouldn't have been born."

"_...How old are you?" she asked._

_Obito looked up at her, startled. "What?"_

"_Answer my question, Obito: How old are you?"_

"Don't say that, Eri!" Itachi scolded. "I'm glad you were born."

"_I'm 12 years old now," Obito said._

"Oh my _God_," Eri clutched onto Itachi's shirt. "He's supposed to have been kidnapped by this time. _She_ was supposed to have died. Everything's fucked up."

"What is?" Itachi pulled back from her, his puzzlement apparent on his face.

Eri didn't answer, because this was the one thing she had resolved to never tell anyone in the Narutoverse, not even Itachi. But a strangely familiar sadistic voice whispered gleefully in the back of her mind:

**The timeline**.


	13. Chapter 13

Hereeeee it is! Chapter 13, with Chapter 14 on the way.

I have to say, winteralley really helped me out with getting down Orochimaru's character down, so please send compliments her way! Without her help, my Orochimaru would've been a bit too sentimental to be realistic, haha.

* * *

_"Explain," General Ross demands. His deep voice is intimidating, his glare sharp and piercing. But still, she doesn't find herself wary of him at all; he doesn't hold a candle to her father. Still, his arrogance pisses her off. She ignores the warning glare her brother sends her. He got to sit on a comfortable chair for the entirety of the meeting, while she had to stand off to the side and fetch coffee for the fat fucks; he has no right to warn her about anything. And besides, he himself knows this general is an idiot; if his order is carried out, more than dozens of soldiers will be killed._

_ "The elevation of the Rub Al Khali is far less than that of the Elburz Mountains," she points out, using her laser to highlight the area. "In fact, the elevation at the Elburz Mountains is about 30 times greater than that of the Rub Al Khali, so—"_

_ "I'm already aware of that," he interrupts. Several of the occupants in the room chuckle, and she clenches her fists tighter, her sharp nails digging into her palms. "That's why I'm supplying the snipers at the Rub Al Khali with different bullets. So the shooting won't be influenced by the lower elevation."_

_ "Yes," she smiles sweetly at him. "You're supplying them with lighter bullets."_

_ "So then why exactly are you opposing the transfer?" he snaps._

_ "Higher elevation means lower air pressure," she explains to him in the same voice she saves for her little baby cousin. She feels pleasure fill her up from the toes all the way to her head as she watches the way his cheeks redden in embarrassment. "So that must mean that lower elevation means higher air pressure. Pressure is the amount of force of an object divided by the surface area; in this case, that would mean the bullet needs to have enough force to fly by without getting influenced too much by air pressure. And, as everyone knows, force is mass times acceleration. Newton's Third Law will take care of the bullet's acceleration. It's the mass of the bullet that we should be worried about. So, you now see why I object to sending lighter bullets to a place with greater air pressure, yes?"_

_ Her punishment for toying with the general is being forced to clean up the bathroom stalls with the other cadets. She doesn't care. She is seventeen, she can't (legally) do anything for the military, and she can't see why her father forced her to stay here. The military is filled with idiots, and the majority of the new recruits can't beat her in physical training (which makes sense, seeing as her training partner since childhood has always been her demon brother). All she wants to do is return home and finish coding her program. _

_ Her world changes when she's assigned to her first team the day she turns eighteen, and she is sent out to kill, kill, kill, kill._

_ Her first kill is a child, he comes up to her waist in height, he's skinny from malnutrition, his eyes are frenzy with fear and religious passion, he's holding the AK-47 the wrong way dumb fucks should've trained the kid better they're just sending all these kids out to be _fodder_, why isn't anyone doing anything, what do you _mean_ aim and shoot_

_ Because she managed to save several of her teammates by killing the child, she receives a reward for her "bravery." After the ceremony, she dashes to her private bathroom to throw up all of the contents of her stomach, tears mixing with the bile, and she doesn't know why she's there—_

_ Her brother stares at condescendingly as she leaves the bathroom, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand._

_ "You are alive because of father's training," he says, his voice as distant and cold as ever. "Be sure to thank Uncle Tom for his strict lessons." With that, he leaves her bunker._

_ Oh God, she cries._

_ God._

_And then she realizes_

there is no God.

* * *

Eri didn't want to tell the people in the Narutoverse the specific events in the timeline because of two things. First, Orochimaru was right. Knowledge was power, and power almost always managed to corrupt the recipients, no matter how kind and gracious they used to be. Second, Eri wasn't sure of her knowledge of the events after Naruto's birth. The only reason she managed to remember how old Kakashi had been when he'd received his jounin promotion was because she'd found it ridiculous a twelve year old could become a jounin. Eri had (in her opinion, rightfully) decided to keep the possibly inaccurate information herself in order to avoid making a bigger mess.

Well, now she found that it was all worth shit. Her birth had messed up with the timeline. This meant the Battle of Kannabi Bridge hadn't occurred. That specific battle was supposed to disrupt the supply of necessities to Iwagakure. But since it hadn't occurred, Iwa was continuously getting support. Now the reason why her parents were so busy made sense; Konoha's two most powerful shinobi were obviously going to be called out for the entirety of the war if the Kannabi Bridge event hadn't occurred. It also explained why the streets were so bare and empty; Konoha's economy was struggling to support the vast amount of weapons the village was supplying its forces with, which was constantly being depleted by an enemy with a constant flow of goods.

(Again, Eri realized that her parents mightdie because of _her_, and because of _her _birth. The longer soldiers were exposed to the active battlefield, the greater the chances of their death. She knows that best. If this was going to be the case, it just would've been better if she hadn't been—)

There were definitely some benefits to this, she supposed. For one, Obito hadn't been kidnapped by Madara, and Rin was still alive. That definitely got a lot off her plate. But in turn, she lost any and all knowledge about the future. And that was very, very bad. If there was one thing that was important in war, in which she was physically inferior to her enemy (as was typically the case), it would be information. And at the current moment, the meager amount of information she _did_ have was either inaccurate and simply wrong. She had no idea what Madara or Zetsu or Akatsuki or Danzo was up to.

The next morning, Eri was done freaking out, and quickly reached for a piece of paper and ink. Eri didn't have time to brood or cry anymore (and she dreaded the day when puberty hit her with more force than these baby hormones. She was seriously getting annoyed that her first reaction to every shocking event was to cry). She had to find a way to fix her mistakes, to figure out what was going out in the real world so she could see just how much had changed. The only problem was that she was only two years old, and, though officially recognized as a genius, was without any political support.

Eri sighed, realizing she'd been really naive. It didn't matter if she was a genius. The general attitude towards both her and Itachi, she now understood, was more of a "wow, you are a very smart kid" than a "wow, can you help us using your genius?" The people around them acknowledged the two were advanced beyond their years, to the point that it was considered creepy. But Eri and Itachi were still children in the eyes of the adults around them (Eri ignored the ironical fact that she viewed Itachi in said manner). She needed to find a way to talk to the Hokage, to convince him to listen to her and to take her advice. She had experience as a soldier (she could now acknowledge this without the sharp headache), and she could help him out _somehow_.

Two hands reached up to her forehead and pressed against her creased eyebrows. "You're frowning again, Eri."

Eri sighed, and reached up to pull Itachi's hands away from her face. "It's my default face when I'm thinking."

Her friend sat next to her on the balcony, his own shirt drenched with sweat. He began to swing his legs. "You've been 'thinking' for the past thirty minutes."

"I'm _going_ to train," Eri grumbled. "You don't need to be so worried about it."

"I'm not talking about that." Itachi lowered his eyes, his long, dark lashes following. "I can help, you know."

Eri said nothing back. Once it had been obvious Eri's tear ducts had dried and that she was preparing for something big, Itachi had brought it upon himself to train. He could now climb up trees without too much difficulty, and was working on jumping from branch to branch. Eri, on the other hand, sat in seiza and stared at the blank piece of paper. So far, she'd done a lot of thinking and not much planning.

She sighed, and leaned back. "All right. Then help me think. Who is involved in Konoha's politics and military, and would be willing to listen to me?"

"Hokage-sama," Itachi answered automatically.

"Too busy," Eri shot back. "And more likely to be 'patiently tolerating' than 'willing to listen'."

"If that's the case, then all that leaves behind is Orochimaru-san," Itachi murmured. "But he's really busy too. My tou-san is still one of the Clan Heads left on the field, and my okaa-san isn't too involved in politics outside of that of the Clan. You have no other options— unless you managed to become acquainted with some other Clan Heads."

"No, I don't—" Eri paused. "Wait, yes I do. Itachi, you're a genius! Shikaku-san and Inoichi-san… They _did_ leave the village for a mission with my parents, but the former is the jounin commander, and the latter is the Head of T&amp;I. Logically speaking, it would be strange for those two to be out on active duty for an extended period of time. They need to be in or near **HQ** so that they can quickly receive and send out orders. Itachi, let's head out!"

Itachi glanced at Eri warily. "I don't think okaa-san would let us—"

With impeccable timing, the door to the veranda slammed open, and an unknown Uchiha stood at the doorway. He bowed swiftly, before rising. "Eri-sama. Mikoto-sama has asked me to guide you to the Administration building."

The two children shared a look. "Eh? Why?"

The Uchiha gave a rare, comforting smile. "Eri-sama… Your father is back from the war. He's waiting for you in the Hokage's office."

* * *

Unfortunately, Eri didn't have the chance to slam open the door and leap into her father's arm as she would've liked to. Because the Hokage and her father were still in a meeting, she was told to sneak inside the room as quietly as she could. She really didn't see the point in doing that, seeing as her loud, haggard breath would've alerted the brilliant shinobi anyways, but did as she was told; after all this time, she didn't want to make a silly mistake that'd keep her away from her father.

When Eri slid into the room and closed the door behind her, she was struck by the chilly atmosphere that hung in the room. The Hokage was reading over her father's written report, it seemed. Her beautiful (and unscathed, oh thank god) father stood before the Hokage's desk, his hands behind his back, clenched hard. His hair had grown to his shoulders, and he was missing his blue sweater. But what Eri really noticed was how dull his aura was, drooped and extremely tired.

Eri wordlessly walked up beside her father, and slid her small hand in his (she didn't miss the way his other hand jerked towards his pouch). He smelled like mud and rain and showerless nights, but she didn't mind. She leaned into her father, feeling his warmth, surrounding herself with the realization that _he was alive_.

When she looked up, she saw her father boring a hole into the scattered pieces of paper on the Hokage's desk. Curious, Eri followed his trail of gaze, and began to read what were both a mixture of reports and requests. She could finally understand why the room was lacking any and all genial tones, as she skimmed and read the following:

_Battle of Shinjo River_

_ Geography_:

Within Kusagakure, extremely dry climate, almost no rain throughout entire mission

Bare, mostly patches of tall grass, rarely any farmers

20 km away from the border of Iwagakure

_ Summary_:

At 0200, Namikaze Minato had finished transporting all 200 men to the region, from which the group was supposed to press into Iwagakure. The original mission of the group was to scout the area and find and sabotage Iwa's water supply, to keep track of Iwa activity within the region, to track the source of Iwa's food supply, amongst more.

At 0210, the group was discovered and ambushed by 1,000 Iwa shinobi. All 1,000 shinobi were properly armed to fight, with occasional seals hidden within the area. Because the goal of the original mission had been non-combat, the Konoha shinobi were entirely unprepared for the conflict.

_Conclusion:_

It is well known that Iwa's soldiers only move in great numbers if they are absolutely certain the casualty will require many men. Thus, it has been concluded that there was a mole within Konoha that alerted the enemy in regards to Konoha's plans to infiltrate the area, which explains how Iwa had been so prepared against the infiltration.

_Initial Iwa soldiers_: approximately 1,000 men

_Initial Konoha soldiers_: approximately 201 men

_Resulting Iwa casualty_: 1,000 men

_Resulting Konoha casualty_: 199 men

Eri stared at the numbers and names before her. Beneath "Resulting Konoha casualty," Eri recognized the names of her father's friends, who had attended her first birthday party, or who her parents had joked about before. Men and women who had congratulated her first birthday, who had families of their own.

To be honest, Eri had once been responsible for a large number of deaths before, and speaking from experience, Konoha's casualty was relatively small. But taking Konoha's shinobi population into account, along with the goal of the original mission, the casualty was absolutely devastating. Konoha couldn't afford to lose 200 men from just an espionage and sabotage mission. After having the group poison Iwa's shinobi, Shikaku had probably intended to have the men return to the closest post to restock their weapons and then enter Iwa territory to fight. It wouldn't matter if Konoha's shinobi left Kusagakure for a short period of time, after all; the kind of poison that Shikaku would use— that any smart general would use— would take awhile to work. Otherwise, the entire enemy population would realize there was something in the water and purify it.

But it had all backfired on them, because _someone had told Iwagakure about the plan_.

(Danzo. That _little fucker_, something hissed inside her.)

The Hokage's sigh brought Eri out of her scowl, and as he threw what he'd been reading on the desk, Eri felt her father's hands stiffen around hers. Eri stared at the new pieces of paper on the desk, and could feel the desperation of the village council that basically summed up to: please find more workers to build holes so we can bury the dead, and also, please build a bigger stone nearby so we can carve the names of the dead soldiers.

"Well," the Sandaime gripped the bridge of his nose. "I see we'll be needing to dig even _more_ graves, now."

"...The bodies could not be recovered from battle," her father finally answered (Eri's throat clogged from listening to the devastation in her father's voice). "The Iwa nin used many doton jutsus that buried the bodies and made them unretrievable."

"Ah…" the Hokage lowered his hands from his face, but his eyes remained closed. "I see. Well. I… will have to announce that to the families separately, then."

"I apologize," Minato cleared his throat. "If I—"

"Minato," the Sandaime interrupted, his voice sharp. "You managed to fight off 1,000 men with a group of mere 150 chuunin, and 50 jounin. You did everything you could in that situation."

"Yes," Minato's voice was lifeless.

The Hokage sighed, and turned to Eri, giving her a lopsided smile. "I'm sorry you had to hear all of that, Eri-chan."

As though he'd only noticed her, Minato turned to Eri and blinked slowly, as if he was having a hard time computing what was before him.

"You've grown in the short period of time I haven't seen you," the Hokage continued. "How about you take your tou-san home, ne? I'm sure he's very tired."

Eri opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't. She found herself crushed by the sorrow in her father's eyes, a similar despair that she saw in her comrades (and in herself—). Her father quickly turned to the Hokage, bowed swiftly, and grasped Eri into his arms—

The (ugly) color of the Hokage's wall blurred with the (gaudy) couch, mixing and smudging and twirling. Time stopped, then jerked, then spun, then leaped. Eri felt her insides twist and burn at the change, and choked out a cry, and—

And was surprised to find herself in her home.

"Eri," her father breathed into her ear, tightening his hold on her. "I'm home."

There were many things Eri wanted to do, but from her experience, she had to be careful about how she approached this situation. She ignored the pang and ringing in her head as she tried to recall proper procedure (it might be different for shinobi, but hell, she had to do _something_).

"Ugh, um, what's the-What's the time again?" Minato mumbled as he jerked his head to look for the time. "Afternoon, huh. Eri, aren't you hungry? I'll go make you some food, how about— how about you—"

"Namikaze Minato," Eri kept her voice level, and refrained from making any sudden movements. "Otou-san. Right now, it is 0900, and too early to have lunch." She glanced around her for things she could use. "How about we take a seat on the couch? I have loads to talk to you about."

"Ah," the haze in her father's eyes seemed to fade. "Okay, we can do that."

Her father gently lowered Eri onto the couch, then joined her. An awkward silence filled the space between the two.

"Otou-san," Eri said loudly. "I'm going to climb onto your lap, now, OK?"

Her father nodded, so Eri slowly crawled onto her father's lap and leaned against him. She could feel his heartbeat behind her (slightly fast paced, but not too abnormal), and his aura was relatively calm, though slightly depressed. For now, it seemed she didn't need to worry about him lashing out spontaneously.

"I'm two and a couple months old now," Eri said aloud. "I'm going to be three years old soon."

Minato said nothing, merely reaching up to run his fingers through his daughter's hair. Eri allowed him to stay quiet, as she began to fill the silence.

"Mikoto-san got someone named Kagami to teach us while you guys were gone. I learned about chakra control, and I can do a lot of jumping jacks now. I can even hold sticks to my arm with my chakra too. I haven't learned to tree-walk or water-walk, but Itachi has. Itachi is really smart, by the way. Orocchin taught me and Itachi fuuinjutsu. Did you know calligraphy was the most important thing to fuuinjutsu? Wait, ah, you probably did. But I think that's stupid. _Everyone_ can master calligraphy eventually, so that means if everyone practiced for long enough, they'd be fuuinjutsu masters, which is obviously wrong. I told that to Orocchin once, and he made me go through 'discipline training,' which was applicable whenever I talked back so I did a lot of that while you were gone. It was _horrible_. I had to repeat the gyoushou form of a thousand kanji a thousand times!"

Like that, the hour passed by, and Eri noticed her father's heartbeat slow to an average pace. His aura brightened slightly, becoming more animated than before. It made Eri relieved to know she had helped her father in some manner or the other. As Eri rambled on, she tried to think of ways she could help her father. Taking the war into mind, it would be difficult for her father to get and receive immediate mental care. Almost all of the Yamanaka were probably involved in one way or the other with the war, and those who weren't were too useless to ask for help from. Eri would have to try to use cognitive therapy and exposure therapy on her father later.

"Otou-san, let's go eat now," Eri called out. "And I think we should let Mikoto-san and Itachi-kun know I'm with you now."

"Ah, I already sent a hawk," her father smiled. Eri marveled at how smoothly he accomplished the necessary things even in his depressed mood (the perfect soldier, he was). "No need to worry about. What do you want to eat, Eri?"

Eri winced at the idea of her father going anywhere near fire, sharp things, or smoke. "Actually, I think I just want to have some ramen or sushi. I always got to eat homemade food, so with you, I want to eat something special."

"OK," her father chuckled, ruffling her hair. "We can do that."

She jumped down onto the ground, and reached for her father's hand as soon as Minato had stood. His eyes had certainly recovered slightly, filled with a little more vigor than before. Eri frowned.

"Eh, Otou-san," she bit her lips. "I think you might want to take a shower first."

Minato glanced blearily at his daughter. "Do I smell that much?"

"Yes," Eri giggled.

A spark of the previous Minato lit up in the back of his eyes. He took a step towards her, a teasing smile playing at his lips. "_Reeeally_? Then how about Eri you come and give otou-chan a hug, ne?"

"Nooo," Eri squealed as she ran away from the couch. "Don't do that, tou-chan—"

The doorbell rang, and Minato was behind the front door with his kunai tight in his grips faster than Eri could blink. In the process, he'd somehow managed to hide Eri under a table away from the view of the front door. His eyes had hardened back into what it had been before, and he reached for the doorknob before jerking it open. The kunai was gone faster than lightening, and after her father stuck his head out the doorway, Eri could hear the genial tone in his voice.

"Uchiha-san! What can I do for you?"

"Mikoto-sama wanted to send her congratulations on returning home from your duty. She sent along some side dishes for the two of you as a gift. She also sealed Eri-sama's belongings and asked me to pass them along to you. She figured Eri would want to stay with you," the Uchiha from before spoke, his voice polite and distant.

"Ah, thank you," Minato said. "Please send my thanks to Mikoto-san. Bye!"

Minato turned and closed and locked the door. Eri saw the familiar spark as her father tapped on the door, recognizing the seal for 'lock'. As he took steps towards her, Eri realized her tou-chan was making seals around the house _through his fucking feet_. (Her father was a genius all right). In his arms were bundles of scrolls and containers of food.

"Eri-chan," he murmured in his soft voice. "Sorry for scaring you."

Eri clambered out from under the table and beamed at her father. "I wasn't scared at all. That was your Hiraishin, right?" Seeing her father's expression darken, she quickly changed the subject (and noted to herself to not mention the technique in front of her father for a while). "I don't think we need to go out to eat, if Mikoto-san sent side dishes for us!"

"But I thought you didn't want to eat homemade food?" Minato gave Eri a strange look.

She maintained her smile. "We shouldn't waste good food while we have it, right?"

Her father paused, and gave her a once over. "You… My Eri-chan has gotten a lot better at speaking, huh?"

This time, Eri's smile was genuine. "I can write really well too! I want to show you later."

Her father returned her smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "All right. For you, hime, I have all the time in the world."


	14. Chapter 14

Hi all! I'm back! I'm sorry this update took so long; I've had a lot of personal stuff going on in my life, and was really busy trying to sort that out. I also finally moved to the States for college! I'm trying to make it so I update this story at least once every two weeks. I swear to God I'll try.

Shoutout to **winteralley**, who edited my work even though it was really crappy haha.

Also, if you don't like my story, you don't have to read it; simple as that. No need to leave mean reviews :(

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The brittle leaves of fall shriveled and fell, the cold wind carrying them back and forth until they touched the frozen ground. Mounds of leaves collected on the sidewalks, none of which the villagers bothered to clear. The sky grew darker earlier and earlier, the sun quick to disappear once past six in the evening.

Neither Namikaze Eri nor her father noticed the change, however. Both of them stayed barricaded in their warm home, their curtains pulled to conceal the outside world. Eri stuck to her father's side as often as she could, desperate to shield him from anything that could possibly trigger his anxiety attacks. It seemed her caution had been worth it; Minato rarely froze up or snapped, his anxiety shedding bit by bit. His tense aura, previously bundled up into a tight ball, unravelled itself strand by strand as he became adjusted to a non-combatant zone.

On their fifth day isolated from the world, though, it seemed her father had had enough. No amount of Eri's puppy eyes could stop her father from leaving their home.

"I need to check on my team, Eri." His voice was low and soft.

"They're _genin_ now. They can take care of themselves," she countered. She pushed against her father as best as she could, blocking his path to the front door.

He reached down to pull her off of him without hurting her. She dangled in the air from her father's hold on her wrists. "It's because they're genin that they need their sensei right now."

"_No_," she growled. Her father rolled his eyes, and swung her up so he could hold her by his hips with his left arm.

"You can be with me the entire time," he offered, before hesitantly adding. "I'm sure they're worried about me. Kakashi alone has sent me five messages in the past hour, and I really don't think the messenger hawks should be wasted that way during a time of war. Besides, I've already asked them to wait for us at the training compound."

Eri kept silent. It was true that she wasn't the only one concerned about the Yellow Flash, and she knew his students should know that he was alive and well. But there were too many risks out there in the real world that Eri couldn't protect her father from.

Minato seemed to take Eri's silence for acceptance, as the couch beside them merged into a whirlpool of colors, mixing with the beige wall and the white ceiling and the blurred window—

And Eri let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Her heart pounded in her chest. (There really was a reason why people needed to practice and train with instantaneous travel, after all!) The Namikaze pair stood on the road extending from the main market to the beginning of the training compounds. The road was surrounded by evergreen trees and rustling grass. The chilly air was filled with a sweet, subtle fragrance that she hadn't smelled since her parents' departure.

"Oh," her father mumbled. "I'd— I'm sorry, Eri. I just… I'll be careful not to use it with you next time. Are you alright?"

Eri was most certainly _not_ all right. Her head spun violently, and she was having a hard time focusing on the features of her father's face, as though she'd downed several shots of vodka in one go. But if her father knew he'd unintentionally hurt her, he would break into little pieces again, and Eri would be the one who'd have to piece him back together. She forced out her halted breath with one exhale, and gave her father a sweet smile, patting his cheeks with her small, pudgy hands.

"I'm fine!" she exclaimed. "I'm super fine. It was really fun." She clenched her shaking fingers into a tight fist to hide them from her father, her fingers digging into her palm. "Can we use it again when we go home?"

Eri realized her father was still completely out of it when a relieved smile bloomed across his face. His stance relaxed. "Of course," he reassured her. "Whatever you want, hime."

(He was a jounin. He was _Namikaze Minato_. He should have noticed her shaking hands, should have noticed her unfocused gaze, should have _noticed_— the only conclusion she came to was that he still had a few screws loose)

"Sensei!" a familiar voice screeched. "_Minato-sensei!_"

A bundle of cheer flung itself at Minato's legs, clasping onto them tightly. Minato chuckled, his voice light and steady, before reaching down to pat Obito's soft hair.

"Obito," Minato's voice dripped with fondness. "I'm back."

Eri glanced up from the adorable scene to see Rin staring at her father with wide eyes, her hands covering her mouth. She seemed ready to collapse any second from shock. But still, the brunette managed to trudge on over to the three of them, and join in on the group hug.

When Eri looked up from the heartwarming scene, she was nearly blinded by a walking cucumber. It jumped up and down excitedly as it trailed after a familiar grey-haired boy. All Eri could think as her eyes followed the obnoxiously bright green suit was 'he must be a really good shinobi if he's managed to survive this long in that suit.'

She glanced at Kakashi to see if he also shared her fascination, but paused at the unexpected maze that wash is aura. Kakashi was neither impatient nor annoyed. He was not upset that his sensei had appeared before him three days after his arrival. He was… beyond relieved. Eri had not seen an aura express such grand catharsis since her parents were informed by the Hokage that she would not be turned into a child soldier.

(She wondered if perhaps she had been taking Kakashi's haughty words at too much face value. Perhaps… he was like Orochimaru, who felt the need to dress his words for psychological warfare and use them to defend himself from any potential attack

During her bickering moments with Kakashi, Eri had momentarily forgotten that Kakashi was emotionally and physically a child. He was a kid. He was twelve years old.)

Eri now saw that Kakashi had done a good job convincing himself into believing he really was a cold, calculating weapon. But it seemed the appearance of his sensei in the flesh was more than enough to interrupt Kakashi's obedience of Shinobi Rule Ten or the other, which stated he be an emotionless, mission-focused and -obsessed robot.

And from her father's reaction from seeing the approaching Kakashi, Eri realized her father already knew about this. The corners of Minato's eyes crinkled as he gave his students a bright, comforting grin. He extended his free arm to the other child.

"I'm home," Minato said, outstretching his arms to the still boy.

Kakashi stood far away, watching cautiously. The boy beside him glanced at him, then at Eri's father. The child apparently came to the right conclusion, as he laid a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, flashed his bright, reflective teeth with a smile, and disappeared down the road to the market. Kakashi took one step and another and another and another until he finally stood before his sensei.

"You're late," the child's voice was small. "Even Obito arrived earlier than you."

Minato laughed, before pulling Kakashi into the group hug. "Sorry about that. But I'm here now, and I'll be taking over the team.."

"So!" Minato returned to his deceptive angelic persona. "Care to fill me in on how you all have been doing?"

Eri was beginning to regret not letting her father meet his team a little earlier than he originally had. After listening to them ramble on about carrier jobs, babysitting trips, message delivery and more, Minato checked on the children's training and gave them some important pointers on how to fix their forms. During this entire session, however, Eri noticed the most prominent change in her father's aura, which returned to its original state: calm, peaceful, analytical and (just a little) sadistic. He regained another part of his identity, a side of him that wasn't all about killing and killing and killing.

(She knew—or she felt like she knew—what it was like to question one's identity after going on a killing spree and destroying towns and villages and...)

His injuries had healed nicely in the following few days, and he met with his team regularly for meetings and training. But Eri still refused to let him out of her sight, which was why she lingered on the Hokage's couch, staring at a map of the various nations on the table without much thought. Her father and his team stood before the Hokage, receiving a new mission. According to the Hokage's instruction, the mission would take less than an entire day, and they'd be back before dinner time.

When her father's aura twitched irritatedly from being assigned such an 'easy' mission, Eri coughed to catch his attention and quirked her eyebrows. He most certainly did _not _have her permission to go on long, violent missions. In fact, her father should've been thankful that she even allowed him to leave Konoha in the first place. It was apparent Minato caught her message as he laughed under his breath, before waving off the confused looks of his team.

"You need to help the Daimyo's second cousin travel from the capital to Tsurui. From there, Team 4 will take over and complete the journey to Biei-cho. There may be bandits on the way, but since the road you'll be taking is in the center of the Land of Fire, there shouldn't be any foreign nin around," the Hokage explained.

(Eri was thankful the Hokage hadn't explicitly stated the "because you killed so many Iwa nin, they're avoiding this road" part implied in the conversation)

"Hai," the group chorused. Minato tucked the mission scroll into his (ugly and replaced, much to Eri's chagrin) jounin jacket, and turned to Eri.

"I'll be back before dinner time," he promised. "Hokage-sama has allowed you to stay in his office until we come back, so stay here instead of home. I know you'll be good, hime."

"Why not Mikoto-san's house?" Eri pouted. She missed Itachi, and wondered how he was doing.

Minato gave her a funny smile. "We've been intruding on her and her family for too long. It'd be best if you just stayed here. I have to leave now, sweetheart."

Eri gave her father a weak smile. "I love you. Be safe."

He gave her a peck on her forehead. As he ushered his team out of the office, he bellowed over his shoulder, "Make sure Hokage-sama takes proper breaks!"

"Cheeky brat," the Sandaime muttered, but his smile remained in place. He peered around his towers of paperwork to check on Eri. "Sorry, Eri-chan. I can't be much of a host right now, because I'm so busy. I swear to kami, no one in Konoha can finish their jobs independent of my interference—"

"Hokage-sama!" a young chuunin burst into the room. "I apologize—but the river near the 3rd post has been poisoned. The civilians who live off the river are sending in numerous complaints—"

The Hokage shot Eri an 'I told you so' look, before shifting his entire attention to the messenger. Eri snorted, and turned back to the map that had preoccupied her thought. Eri figured the map wouldn't be accurate. In fact, in the Narutoverse, most sources of information, like maps or non-fiction books, seemed to be inaccurate or plain misleading.

It made sense, though; in this world, concrete information was a weapon, and a very potent one at that. By veiling fact, nations could exaggerate whatever they wanted as propaganda to instill nationalism within their denizens or inspire soldiers to increase their passion and fighting efficiency. They could also feed false information to their enemies, and without a proper, legitimate source, their enemies would be none the wiser and fall into what would've otherwise been an easy to notice trap.

This was much harder to pull off in her old world. The internet allowed people of diverse backgrounds to share information and helped verify pieces of information as evidence by cross referencing it to the experiences of the involved groups.

Eri sighed, and traced the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass. She knew Kannabi Bridge was somewhere in this area, and that sooner or later, Konoha shinobi _had_ to attack the area to reclaim the upper hand in battle. But her word had no weight in the political and military world here (in her previous life, her surname was enough for men to pause, to listen, to follow orders). If Shikaku was the shrewd general he was revealing himself to be, he wouldn't risk the lives of his men for a three-year-old's plan, no matter how much of a genius she was. Konoha just couldn't afford to use its men so recklessly.

"See something interesting?" a familiar voice called.

Blinking, Eri looked up. "Orocchin!" she yelled as she flung herself at the Snake Sannin. "Why are you here?"

With knowing ease, Orochimaru tucked a hand under her legs to hold her up. "I have a meeting with my sensei. My students are cooperating with each other enough that I can take them out for missions now."

Eri clutched onto Orochimaru's clothes tightly, her lips pursing. (She _finally_ had her father back. She really wasn't ready— really didn't want— to send off another friend, another family member.)

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "Child, I am not so weak that I require you to worry about me."

Eri didn't ease up on her pouting. It wasn't like she was looking down on him. She _knew_ he was strong; but so was her father, and he returned home in lesser pieces than a box of smashed cookies. Instead of responding to Orochimaru, Eri stared at the Hokage with mild irritation, silently demanding the man assign Orochimaru's team an easy mission. The Hokage merely watched the duo with amusement, even as his right hand danced across the pages of legal documents before him.

"So you're finally willing to calling them your students, eh?" the Sandaime chuckled.

"I do not see how you are permitted to ridicule my decision," Orochimaru snorted. "If I recall correctly, you yourself refused to call Jiraiya, Tsunade, and me your students until the second month of the formation of our team."

"That's because Tobirama-sensei made me pay for the collateral damage of your fights." The Sandaime's eyes glazed with nostalgia. "I think you have to admit those damages were the main financial reasons why I had to wait several years to build my own home. But, yes. Your team has a new mission." He threw a long, sealed scroll across the table, which Orochimaru caught without difficulty.

"The Daimyo's third cousin, Nakamura-sama, is moving to Kitashiobara," Hokage-sama sighed.

"And the reason this is a B class mission?" Orochimaru asked, examining the contents of the scroll.

Eri gaped at the scroll, and turned to give the Hokage her best death glare. How could he send a newly formed genin team on a B rank mission right off the bat? Was he crazy?

"Nakamura-sama is currently residing in Kiso-cho," the Sandaime explained, ignoring Eri's (admittedly pathetic) intimidation attempts.

"That is… quite close to the Iwa borders," Orochimaru quirked his eyebrow.

The Sandaime sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Yes. It appears Nakamura-sama had angered the Daimyo last year, and consequently was forced to live closer to hostile forces. It was only recently that Nakamura was smart enough to realize he was in danger, and successfully won back the Daimyo's favor."

Orochimaru sealed the scroll and hid it in his sleeves. "I understand. But will our team be enough for the trip? Usually these aristocrats have more than their immediate family members travel with them when they make such dramatic moves as these, and I doubt a four member team will be enough to protect the entire entourage."

"About that," the Sandaime cleared his throat. Immediately, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, and his grip on Eri tightened. She patted his hand reassuringly that yes, she also thought the Hokage was being an asshole.

"There will be several other shinobi teams joining you," Hokage-sama explained. He quickly rushed to add, "Danzo has also added some of his recommendations onto the teams. You will— your team and you will be fine."

It was clear Orochimaru was in turmoil. There was something conflicted in him, something that was boiling and reaching its bursting point. But the Snake Sannin somehow managed to repress the concern and anger, and instead, curled the tips of his lips into a sneer.

"I will be fine," he said in the same haughty tone as always. "And my team will be fine. All will be well."

The Hokage's nervous aura relaxed. Eri scrunched her face in confusion. How could the Hokage simply accept Orocchin's words to be the truth, and believe that Orochimaru was OK? Couldn't he see the way his student was stiff, the way his grip on Eri had tensed at the mention of Danzo?

"I know you'll protect them," the Sandaime smiled. "I believe in your abilities as a leader. I know, as you do, that there is a bright future ahead of you. One that I think you truly deserve."

Eri blinked. That sounded awfully like—

"As soon as this war ends," the Hokage continued, "I know you especially will be rewarded for your contribution to Konoha."

Orochimaru turned away from the Hokage, returning Eri back to the couch. She couldn't see his expression, his face completely concealed from both her and the Hokage, but she could see he was more confident in himself now. The Hokage's words invigorated and convinced him that whatever he was going through was worth it.

"The acknowledgement of the Konoha people is all I need," Orochimaru said. The Hokage laughed, but Eri realized Orochimaru was being completely serious. He was doing something upsetting for Konoha, for its people. Eri stared at Orochimaru hard enough to bore a hole in the back of his head.

(He never wanted it from the start. But what was _it_? Experimentation? Recognition? Acknowledgement?)

"My team will leave tomorrow in the morning then, as per the instructions of the mission," Orochimaru noted.

The Sandaime gave a sharp nod, then paused. "Orochimaru, what do you have planned for the rest of the afternoon?"

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "That would depend on what burden you're planning on throwing my way."

The Hokage chuckled. "Well, Eri-chan is supposed to stay in my office until her father's team returns from their mission today. Minato will be back before 8 PM tonight. But I worry that she may die from boredom; I have too much work on my hands to entertain her at the present moment."

Orochimaru chortled, eyeing the never-ending stacks of paper on the Hokage's desk. "Yes, I can see that. If it's Namikaze, I don't mind. I've— She's no trouble."

Eri and the Hokage sniggered, having noticed the Snake Sannin's slip of "I've missed her." Orochimaru rolled his eyes as he headed towards the door. Eri clambered off the couch and trailed on after him. She reached up and clasped onto his hands tightly, and turned to wave at the Hokage, who once again became engrossed in his work.

"I've missed you too, Orocchin," Eri cooed as they made their way down the hallway.

"You're fully capable of discussing the formation and organization of an entire clan's DNA, and yet you still insist on calling me by that annoying pet name," Orochimaru growled. "You are a mystery of a child, Namikaze."

Eri only laughed. She knew if it really bothered Orochimaru, he'd force her to go through discipline training over and over again until just hearing said pet name made her sick. She took his tolerance to be a sign of his acceptance, and he knew she did.

"Is your team going to be at your office?" she asked as the two walked down a familiar set of empty roads.

"No. They've been training hard the past couple of days, so I allowed them a day off with their families," Orochimaru unlocked and opened the door to his office once they reached their destination. "And this way, I have more time to myself to plan formations for the team in accordance to the needs of the mission."

Eri frowned, and found herself pouting again as she draped herself over Orochimaru's couch like she owned it (which, honestly, she did). There was something tight and uncomfortable entangled in her stomach. She didn't like it. It felt like she was trying to bundle up all her frustrations and angst and bury it inside her.

"What is it?" Orochimaru sighed.

"Well, how am I going to know if you're OK or not?" she demanded, surprising herself with the outburst. When Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, she added, "At least with otou-chan, I have a seal to let me know if he's injured or not. With you, I have nothing."

"You should not worry about me too much," Orochimaru argued.

Eri gave him a disbelieving look. "Are you serious?"

"Everyone you're acquainted with is strong by their own right," he continued, ignoring her gaping expression. "It's most illogical to assume they will be seriously injured from taking such unimportant missions."

"Yes, but even superficial injuries make me worried," Eri snapped. "It's the same with okaa-chan, because I forgot to ask her for a seal, and I'm worried _sick_ every day and night and when otou-chan came back home, he was not OK, and I—"

She jerked her head back as tears swelled and fell from her eyes, drops colliding with the skin of her palms and creating a messy, salty mess on her hands. She rubbed her fist against her eyes, but Orochimaru swiftly intervened, and used a handkerchief to gently dry her face.

(Eri wondered if she could go a week without crying and laughed sarcastically at herself. The answer was a clear no.)

"She hasn't sent a letter in weeks," Eri admitted miserably. "I don't know where she is, or what she's doing. I don't know _anything_. And when otou-chan came home, he was in a really bad state. What if that happens to you?"

Orochimaru used the tips of his index and thumb fingers to throw the handkerchief in the trash, replacing it with tissues. "It won't."

"But what _if?_" Eri persisted.

"I'm going on a _B_ class mission, hime," Orochimaru reminded her, his voice soothing and calm.

"But things might always turn for the worse, like you taught me and Itachi," she sniffled.

Orochimaru pressed his lips together, before taking a seat beside her. "Alright. I have a solution to your worries."

Orochimaru held a familiar hand sign, and drew his eyebrows close in concentration, gathering his chakra from its core to his fingertips. Immediately, Hanako slid out from his sleeves and clambered down onto his lap. Once the sunset-colored snake realized Eri was also on the same couch, she immediately slid on over to clamber onto Eri's shoulder.

"You can use Hanako to communicate with me," Orochimaru said.

Eri's eyes widened. "What? How?"

"I'm going to teach you how to communicate with snakes," Orochimaru smiled as Eri's gaping expression returned.

"Do I get to sign the summoning pact with them?" Eri asked excitedly.

Orochimaru placed a hand on his chin, frowning. "Not exactly, though that certainly is an option. I'm going to teach you a different method on how to communicate with my snakes. As to whether you sign a summoning contract with the snakes… I would hold up on that. I'm do not know whether the Namikaze had any special summoning pacts, but I know the Uzumaki did, so you should wait until your parents inform you on the matter."

"Oh," Eri deflated. "OK."

"Now, listen," Orochimaru instructed. "Hanako, introduce yourself to Eri."

The snake raised herself up to Eri's eye level, and hissed incomprehensibly. Eri glanced at Orochimaru questioningly. He rolled his eyes, and reached his hand over to press against Eri's head. Suddenly, the world before Eri became blurred and the room began to vibrate violently in Eri's vision. Orochimaru's left hand snapped out to support Eri's head as the toddler swayed slightly to the side.

"I slightly altered the way your brain's central auditory processing center perceives noise," Orochimaru explained. "It echoes the symptoms of hyperacusis, but it'll wear off in a couple of days." He pushed her up so she could balance her upper body herself.

Eri blinked as she became engulfed in the music of the world around her. She could hear the sound of the wind gently caressing the surface of the window; the heavy steps of the civilians trudging on their way past the building; the light taps of the shinobi landing and departing the building's roof. Her attention returned to Hanako as the snake slithered across Eri's lap and began hissing again.

This time, she could hear slight inconsistencies, breaks, and various tones in what Hanako was trying to say. She turned to Orochimaru with a bright smile. "I can hear a pattern!"

"Yes. I've trained the majority of my snakes to speak in broken sentences. The syllable of their hisses indicate which alphabet letter their word first begins with. The rhythm of the hiss conveys which family of meanings the word is of, and the beat of the entire hiss conveys any connotation of the message," Orochimaru instructed. "You must practice listening to them as frequently as you can to notice the pattern immediately."

Eri's eyes remained on Hanako, who almost seemed to be smiling. "Will you teach me?"

Orochimaru laid his hand on Eri's head. "I have plenty of time on my hands today."


	15. Chapter 15

I'm embarassed to say it took me this long to come back. I've been dealing with some personal things in recent months, and I haven't been handling them very well.

But I'm very proud to say this chapter was edited by the wonderful **winteralley **(who also writes fabulous stories, so please check them out!), except for the tiny bits I snuck in. If there are mistakes in this chapter, it's of my doing. Please let me know if there's anything you notice that I should fix! I'm always open to criticism :)

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Apparently, snakes communicated in rhythms that mimicked Morse code. Making that mental connection made it easier for her to try to memorize the hundreds of rhythms that snakes used. Orochimaru made her draw short and long lines to represent the rhythm and syllable of Hanako's hisses. Once she finished a set, he told her what the meaning of that word was, so that she could write it below her drawing of what seemed to be incomprehensible rows of broken lines. It wasn't too hard. There were five vowel sounds that were possible, from 'ah,' 'ee,' 'oo,' 'eh,' and 'oh'; there were forty-two consonants-vowel unions possible in total. This didn't compare to the kinds of memorization activities she had to do in her previous life.

In just a few hours, she was done memorizing which rhythm or syllable meant what. But mere memorization did not imply perfect application. Orochimaru watched Eri try to crack the snake code that Hanako passed onto her, quick to correct her, but she had a hard time breaking the code without writing it down, which was unacceptable by shinobi standards. She knew just as well as most people that leaving clues for shinobi to solve puzzles meant the puzzle would be solved. It would be stupid of her to underestimate other shinobi in such a way. Occasionally, her snake sensei got up to add a seal filled with weapons and other necessary objects into his pack, but otherwise he remained focused on Eri's work.

"Not bad," he muttered to himself. "You memorized this much faster than I thought you would."

Eri puffed out her chest. "Of course! Who do you think I am? This is a piece of cake for a Namikaze-slash-Uzumaki."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes and rustled her hair before getting up from the couch. "It's already been three hours. Why don't you take a rest?"

Eri blinked, and glanced out the window. True to her sensei's word, the light outside had dimmed into a burning red. The sun was quick to move. It made sense; it was already December, and winter here did not allow for long periods of daylight. She wondered if her mother was under the same sky, or if the sun still hung halfway down the tip of the sky.

The rustling of paper distracted Eri from her brooding, and she clambered down the couch, Hanako attached to her hips, and stood beside Orochimaru. Her sensei's lean body loomed over the map before him, and the beginnings of his eyebrows hugged one another tight. The tips of his lips clenched downwards (Eri was proud to say only she would've noticed such an expression on her poker faced sensei). Eri climbed up on the chair strategically placed beside the desk, taking it as Orochimaru giving her permission to watch.

She stared at the map in awe. It was different from the one that the Hokage had pressed open on his coffee table. There was a key on the bottom left with a scale for measurement; the lines bordering the oceans were sharper; specific clumps of land were labelled with their respective village or town names; and rivers were colored in.

"Where did you get this?" Eri demanded.

Orochimaru smirked in that arrogant way of his, with just his left eye crinkling. "I made it myself."

"Wow," Eri turned to the map. "This is really detailed."

"The only accurate map in this world," Orochimaru's voice was unable to mask his pride.

"Probably," Eri agreed. "All the other maps I've seen are all contorted and different."

Orochimaru quirked his eyebrow. "You've compared all the maps you've seen?"

"Well, not side by side," Eri admitted. "But I can tell they're different even without them being physically compared to each other."

"You memorize the maps?"

Eri shrugged. "I don't do it on purpose. It just happens that I end up remembering what the general shapes of the lands and oceans and lakes look like. I can memorize the specific details if I need to, though."

Orochimaru crossed his arms. "Is that so. Well, why do you think all the maps are different?"

"Because they all include false information." Eri still couldn't take her eyes off of the map Orochimaru made. She hadn't seen such a high quality map in a while. She shifted to allow Hanako to stretch onto the back of the chair. "That way, they can mislead their enemies should the enemies discover the maps, or should the makers of the map purposefully plant them somewhere. It's a cheap method that'll only get the amateurs, but I guess they keep doing it because chuunin are chuunin for a reason."

Orochimaru laughed. "Oh? Then how do you suppose villages would train their shinobi to follow geographical orders?"

Eri stretched her back. Her back was starting to cramp from leaning over the map for too long. "If I were their sensei, I'd make them physically repeat trekking through paths that we'd be using often. Over time, I'd teach them the labels for each path. That's also probably the best method for genin, since the trails created by the trees of Konoha's forest aren't exactly easy to spot for beginners."

"You seem quite confident for a beginner yourself," Orochimaru noted.

Eri smiled. "I watched what paths okaa-chan and otou-chan took for every destination they took me to. There are little things like the direction of the tree barks changing for a certain path, or a kind of bird's nest on the entrance to another path."

"Then what about paths that you can't make frequent trips through?" Orochimaru offered as a challenge.

Eri tapped her chin with her fingers. "Hmm… For trips to foreign areas, I'd give them a collection of maps. Obviously, they wouldn't be honest, since they could end up in the wrong hands. But the most of the maps would be correct. The parts that were wrong would be indicated on the map through a specific code that I teach my students before I distribute the maps themselves. Each map would show specific portions of the trip, so that even if some of them were lost, they would be of vague areas that wouldn't make much sense to a new reader."

Orochimaru gave her one of his rare, full teeth but gentle smile. "Full marks, hime." Eri gleamed at his praise.

"Ne, ne, Orocchin," she reached out to tug on his kimono shirt. "Can you show me how to make these kinds of maps?"

"Of course." His touch was gentle as he patted her hair. "But I'd only be able teach you after I get back from my mission."

Eri rolled her eyes as she slumped back on the chair. "How long are you going to be gone?"

"Judging from how many people this noble is going to bring, I'd say this trip going to and from will take me some time from a week to two weeks," he took a seat, and used the tip of his fingers to show a trail. "We'd use this road until we reach this river, and then head back to the center of the capital, where we'd then drop off the noble and his people with the Daimyo and head back to Konoha."

"A week to two weeks?" Eri glanced at Orochimaru's calm face. "That's a large interval you're giving yourself there."

"The length of this trip will depend on the level of skill of Danzo's men," Orochimaru stated, his facial features hardening. Eri did not miss the way Orochimaru gathered Danzo's shinobi into a collective 'men.' He was differentiating them from typical Konoha shinobi. (He knew.)

She glanced back at the map, at the trail that Orochimaru had showed. There had to be a way to introduce the concept of Kannabi Bridge (or something like it) into this new timeline in a way that wouldn't fuck everything else up.

"Orochimaru," she called out. "Are there any bridges near where your team is going?"

"Perhaps," Orochimaru stared at the map. "I haven't travelled through Kusagakure much. Why?"

"'There are numerous large crevices between countries,'" Eri quoted from one of her mother's history books. "'The depths and widths of the crevices differ greatly. The valley between Iwagakure and Kusagakure is one of the deepest out of all the cracks between lands.'"

Orochimaru caught onto her idea as he continued her train of thought. "How would Iwa soldiers carry all their weapons—both tools and children—with them? Those children could not have travelled down the valley and up with no casualty; they were observed to have barely controlled themselves from fighting each other. There must have been a shortcut available to the Iwa soldiers such that they would be able to transport so many child soldiers with them, since no Iwa shinobi has your father's ability. Hence, the logical assumption would be that there is a bridge—one that isn't too long—that would bridge between the cracks."

He turned back to his map, and began to mutter to himself as he was absorbed in something, "That means the bridge must be covered by something to prevent it from being easily discovered, both by sight and sound. Trees are an easy way to hide something like a small bridge. There must also be a waterfall nearby to hide the hard labor that occurs on the bridge. But since large amounts of equipment can't be moved immediately from one location to another, there must be a place where the shinobi can store the weapons and food and other necessities, before they can transfer that to another place. Caves are a good way to hide such things."

Orochimaru turned to Eri with a bright gleam in his eyes. "There must be a bridge somewhere between Iwagakure and Kusagakure hidden by tall—very tall—trees, with a waterfall close enough to hide the noise from the bridge—so approximately ten to twenty kilometers away from the bridge—and multiple caves. That's it. That's what we need to look for."

"Yeah," Eri gave a hesitant nod, and watched Orochimaru return to the map. His eyes gleamed around a specific area of the map.

"This place seems to have a lot of what would be necessary for that said bridge," Orochimaru muttered to himself. When Eri looked down, her heart thudded as she recognized the name _Kannabi Bridge_ included in scope of the general area Orochimaru's fingers had trapped in a wide, circular sweep.

Once again, Eri felt something strong pulse insider her. This was what a true genius was. All she gave him was one idea, and he completed the thought by his own reasoning in one swift move. She felt something akin to shame brood inside her, as she realized she'd been quite arrogant. She'd thought it was her responsibility to introduce the bridge to the new time line.

But really, nobody around her needed her to introduce anything; their superb intelligence would have allowed them to come to the same conclusion with or without her. Eri knew the only reason Orochimaru didn't come to this conclusion before her interference was because he was so busy with the genetic discovery and with training his students; likewise, everyone else around her had specific tasks designated to them. But once they completed their individual missions, they would have come to the same conclusion as her.

"I'm going to have to leave my post temporarily to scout for bridges," Orochimaru concluded. Eri contemplated on whether she should tell him to look into Kannabi Bridge specifically, but decided she wasn't sure if Iwa was still using the same bridge as the one she recalled; she had, after all, fucked up the timeline.

"Take your team with you," Eri rushed to add.

Orochimaru glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "Why on earth would I purposefully burden myself?"

"You wouldn't be," Eri pressed, returning his glare with equal ferocity. "A team is not a burden." She echoed her father's words from before, "You will protect yourselves and each other-_as a team_. I also think you should call for reinforcements before you blow up the bridge, if you find it."

Orochimaru pressed against his eyes with the palm of his hand, and a groan managed to escape his lips. "Oh kami, you really are a Namikaze."

Eri nudged his side with her elbow. "You know that's part of the reason why you love me."

Orochimaru glanced at her through the small space between the bridge of his nose and his palms, his eyes crinkling at the edges. "But that arrogance proves you're an Uzumaki."

"Arrogance? I think it's fair to call it confidence," Eri corrected. "Arrogance implies that I'm wrong."

Orochimaru laughed loud enough for his shoulders to collapse into a relaxed stance, and for his hand to drop from his face. "You truly are my student."

Eri beamed at him. That was the best compliment he could give her. Then, she paused as she remembered her conversation with Itachi from a few days ago.

"Ne, Orocchin," she hesitated. Orochimaru quirked his eyebrows in response. "I think I've prolonged this war."

Orochimaru glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "And why exactly have you come to this conclusion?"

"I was born on February 10," she explained. "That's the same day otou-chan and his team were supposed to go on a scouting mission in a place not far from where you're going. If… If they had found that bridge that day, they could have destroyed it, and Konoha would be winning significantly."

There was a brief pause, before her sensei snorted. "Child, that's some amazing arrogance you're displaying, insinuating an entire war has been prolonged by your mere existence."

"But—"

"So what, then?" he demanded in an impatient voice, which was unlike his usual self. "What's the other alternative that you think would have lead to a better conclusion? That you were never born in the first place? That's preposterous!"

Eri clamped her mouth shut, and blinked. "I mean… Maybe if I'd… I'd been born a little later—"

"Are you a kami, Namikaze Eri?" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Do you control life and death?"

Eri resisted the urge to insert that theoretically speaking, if she killed someone, she'd be in control of death, and instead, shook her head.

"Then this past incident was completely beyond your mortal control," Orochimaru said.

Eri lowered eyes, a small blush rising to her cheeks. "I… I mean… You're right, I guess."

"Of course I'm right," Orochimaru smirked. He seemed to hesitate, but in the end, extended his arm out to pat her head, his palm gentle against her hair. "You shouldn't burden yourself with something like this, with this illogical notion."

Tears that Eri had thought she'd exhausted crept forward. "I know. But okaa-chan is still out in battle, and she's been gone for so long, and otou-chan is back, but he's not _here_. He's… He's a shell. I've managed to put him together, but I've only placed the pieces into place. They can't be glued together."

Orochimaru gathered Eri into his arms and onto his lap. His aura was soothing. "When men and women go out into battle, they witness many things. Sometimes, the things they witness breaks them. But Konoha shinobi are strong. They always gather strength and stand up firmly again to fight for their village. And as much as I hate to admit it, your father is one of the strongest shinobi of our village. He will return to the way he is faster than you can blink."

Eri laughed as she rubbed at her eyes. "Okay. I guess you're right." She clambered off his lap, noticing how Hanako slithered back onto her shoulder. "Oh, also, I need your help on something."

Orochimaru leaned against the back of his chair. "And what would that be?"

"I need the recognition of Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi," she grinned.

"Interesting," Orochimaru placed his hand against his chin. "Are you trying to create a network of powerful people you can manipulate?"

Eri chortled. "I think I already have a pretty strong network." She looked Orochimaru in the eye, her silliness disappearing. "Look at this way: I have pretty good ideas about what to do in the war to get us to win, but what good is it to have these ideas to myself?"

"You want an audience with power to act," Orochimaru concluded. He tested her, "Yet you already have an amiable relationship with the Hokage, your parents, the Uchiha clan, and of course, myself. So why the extra two people?"

"Hokage-sama is too busy working on too many things to actually listen to what I have to say. My parents would never allow me to become involved in the war in any way. I do curry favor with the Uchiha clan, but they aren't in a position to make decisions regarding the war— even the Clan Head was sent out to the war; no one from the Uchiha Clan is going to be giving orders to teams when they're mere foot soldiers in this war. You have a team now, and you're going to be continuously sent on missions, what with Konoha being on an uneven footing in the war," Eri argued.

"Nara-dono and Yamanaka-dono are both Clan heads as well," Orochimaru reminded her.

"Except they're also the jounin commander and the Head of T&amp;I, respectively," she pointed out. "There's no way they'd be sent too deep into the war. They're national defense; they're going to have to be in or near HQ for the majority of the war."

"But why would they listen to you?" Orochimaru pushed again. "Why waste time on a toddler?"

"To be honest, Yamanaka-san might treat me like a child," Eri conceded. "But Nara-san was… different. I met him when he was testing me for my intelligence when I was much younger. He didn't treat me like a child; he treated me like a mini adult. He will, at the very least, listen to what I have to say. I won't be able to command legions on my own— that'd be suicidal for him to permit. But I can plant seeds. All I need is a way for me to be inserted into his life as a war advisor from a reputable person."

Orochimaru grinned wolfishly. "As expected of my student. Very well, I'll give it some thought."

Eri leaned in to hug Orochimaru. "You're the best!"

* * *

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a familiar sky blue aura and twisted to face the door. Following her turn, someone knocked on the door. Eri winced as the knock rang in her ears. It seemed her superior hearing was still active (meaning all this time, Orochimaru had been speaking in a soft voice for her). She snapped her arms out to allow Hanako to climb back onto her body.

"Tou-chan!" Eri squealed at the same time Orochimaru bellowed, "Come in."

The doorknob twisted, and the door opened. Her (handsome) father walked through the doorway.

"Tou-chan, look what sensei taught me!" Eri pretended she didn't see the way Orochimaru's aura jumped in response to how she'd referred to him. She jumped out of her seat, careful not to become too dizzy from the foreign movements in the air. Her father seemed to catch on quickly as he took careful, light steps towards her.

Nonetheless, Eri struck her arms out, allowing Hanako to hang off her arm. "We can converse with each other now."

Hanako made a short comment. Eri laughed. "She says we look alike. I can only talk to Hanako because she's a summoning, though. Normal snakes, I probably won't be able to, unless I sign the snake summoning pact."

Minato's face glowed as she gave her a soft smile. He placed his big, warm hand on top of her head, and looked to Orochimaru. "Thank you for teaching her, Orochimaru-san. You've gifted her with something neither Kushina nor I would have been able to have given her."

Eri heard Orochimaru shift from one foot to another, and spun on her heels to face him as well. "It was of no difficult matter." He paused, then added (with what seemed like poorly hidden glee), "I enhanced her central auditory processing center to induce hyper aural abilities."

Minato blinked once, then twice, before turning to Eri. "That explains why you were so sensitive to me walking, huh. Interesting… So that's how you taught her the code for this Hanako-chan."

Orochimaru turned to me with what could have been disbelief, but also could qualify as exhaustion. Eri shrugged. Her father trusted Orochimaru a lot more than Orochimaru thought he did. He knew Orochimaru would never do anything that would hurt her or impair her permanently.

"Oh, yeah, tou-chan!" Eri tugged at her father's sleeves. "How do you think Iwa shinobi are transporting all their goods and weapons?"

Her father leaned back on his heels, a mischievous expression veiling his true thoughts (to everyone but Eri). "What do you think?"

"Well, sensei taught me this, but there's most likely a bridge surrounded by a bunch of trees and with a waterfall nearby that the Iwa shinobi are using to move things from Iwagakure into Kusagakure past one of the biggest valleys between the two lands. The trees would hide the bridge from view and the waterfall from hearing."

Minato smiled. "Perfect reasoning. As expected from your sensei."

"What do you think of it?" Eri pressed.

"It's similar to a hypothesis that I've had since I first met the… the child soldiers. They're too rash and violent. Iwa wouldn't be able to control them for a prolonged period of time and move them from Iwa to the battlefield so easily." Eri nodded in agreement, and glanced out at the window. It was dark.

"Do we have to leave right now?" she asked.

Minato ran his fingers through his hair. "We have to get some things settled back home."

"Settled? Why?" Eri frowned. Were guests coming over?

Minato gave his daughter a tired but relieved smile. "Guess who's coming back home?" His aura swirled in the way it did in response to only one person.

Eri gaped. "No… Kaa-chan?! Kaa-chan's coming back home?"

Minato chuckled. "That's right, so—"

Eri scrambled past her father and ran to collect her scattered lines and words on Orochimaru's coffee table. Hanako jumped onto the couch amid Eri's crisis to avoid being thrown off onto the floor. Eri shoved the papers into her pack, and placed her pack on her bag. She stared at Hanako, uncertain whether she could take Hanako with her.

"Hanako will be with you, so long as you and your parents are fine with it," a calm voice called.

Eri squealed in delight, and reached over to allow Hanako to slither back onto her arm and then her shoulder.

"Well, then, Eri-chan. What do you have to say to Orochimaru-san?" her father reprimanded.

Eri spun on her heels to bow deep to show her genuine respect. "Thank you, Orochimaru-sensei."

Her sensei's aura shook with what looked like affection (with Orochimaru and Kakashi's aura, she could never be a hundred percent sure). "Do tell me how it goes with Kushina. I would love to share my final product with her." He cocked his eyebrow, and made eye contact with Minato. "But of course, give her as much time as she needs to recover. I suppose we all know what it can be like to return from an active battlefield to home."

Minato nodded slowly in agreement, and bent to collect Eri in his arms. She clambered into them, and clutched onto her father. She swayed downwards along with her father's torso as he bowed to Orochimaru.

"Thank you, Orochimaru-san, for being there for Eri," Eri heard her father say as space and time bent again and oh kami, tou-chan not _this_ aga—

Eri's distortion was cut short as she blinked several times to clear the blurry reality before her. When the dizziness cleared, she realized she was standing in the dining room. She reached out to grasp on her father, but found a chair instead, so she leaned against that to catch her breath.

"Eri," her father peeked in through the doorway to the kitchen. "You know how we should welcome your kaa-chan home?"

Eri perked up at the mention of her mother. "Prepare a party?"

Minato showed her his angelically cruel smile. "Look at the state of the house, Eri-chan."

Following her father's orders, Eri looked around the room and grimaced. Though her father and she were usually clean people, the two of them hadn't exactly taken good care of the house. In Eri's defense, she was busy taking care of her father. But it was true the entirety of the house was a disaster: their worn clothes were strewn over the couch, dirty plates piled in the sink, and dust had collected on the curtain seams.

"Clean…" Eri admitted, her shoulders sagging with sadness.

From there, Eri was forced to gather the mounds of dirty clothes and bring them to the laundry room, where her father shoved them in the washing machine to wash. She also mopped the wooden floors and vacuumed (with her mini vacuum) the carpeted floors. Even Hanako had to help sliding up and down the curtains—which had been moved outside to be aired. Her movements removed the dust on the curtains. Minato was quick to finish washing and drying the dishes, before placing them in the right places. He also changed all the sheets on the beds (both Eri and Minato ignored the fact that the only beds used since Minato's return was the one in the master bedroom, because neither of them could be alone without the other at night).

By the end of their clean up, everyone was dirty, dusty, and tired. Eri rejected Minato's offer to help her bathe, as she had every previous night. It'd been the only times she'd allowed herself to be away from her father. Despite her own desire to be near him to take care of and watch over him, she mentally could not stand the thought of anyone seeing her baby body naked (which was also the reason why she had learned how to bathe herself during her stay in the Uchiha household. The first and last time she'd been forced to bathe with Itachi, she felt like she was being the creepiest creep).

Once Eri and Hanako were squeaky clean, Minato allowed both of them into the same master bed. Eri made sure Hanako stayed in the coolest part of the room, since she knew snakes couldn't handle high heat, and rolled over to snuggle with her tou-chan. She felt safe for the first time in a while; nights with her tou-chan usually ended with her waking up in the middle of the night, worried and scared that her father had disappeared to wander down the streets as she had seen so many soldiers do. But that night, she felt like some part of her father had returned, and that she could rely on him as she had before. So she willingly embraced sleep, and even the dreams that followed.

* * *

_When she's small, her mother and she play a game. It's hide and seek, but she has to be really, really quiet. She's not allowed to be loud at all. She has to sneak past her mother, creep on her toes, hide behind walls and doors. She isn't even allowed to giggle: the last time she did that, her mother found her and scolded her and said hide and seek is a serious game and she's not allowed to make a sound._

_ When she's a little bigger, her mother brings out maps of different countries. They lie on their stomachs on a rug together, and they play a game to find out who can find cities and countries on the maps the fastest. Her mother's very quick, and her mother never lets her win unless she tries hard. Over time, she becomes better and faster than her mom, and she can find Aleppo, Annam, Damascus, Dong Xiao Hama, Homs, and so many more faster than her mom can. But sometimes, it feels like her mother doesn't want her to be faster. And when her mother can't win against her anymore, her mother folds up the map and tucks it away. When she asks her mother why, her mother replies that there's nothing more the map game can teach her. _

_ After the map game is done, the two of them play with lego. She wants to make castles and oceans and mountains, like the ones on the cover of the lego box. But her mother wants her to make the same buildings she sees on the t.v. sometimes. And she has to make the streets the same as the way her mom wants her to, over and over and over— the same roads again and again and again. Even though it's super boring, she does it because her mother asked her to. When she makes the streets and roads and buildings a lot, she can start to see it in her head, and can see how she would walk these roads, and know where she can hide, like she does with her mother in hide and seek. When she tells this to her mother, excited about her new skill, her mother gives her a weird smile. It almost looks sad._

_ When she's much, much older, and she stands on the same roads that she'd built with lego bricks, in the cities she had studied together with her mother, holding the cold, cold metal of her gun, she can almost understand why her mother was always so sad when they played those games, the games that she'd enjoyed so much in her naivety, during her innocent childhood._


End file.
